3.  2-5".  2.2. 


Jffrnm  t^s  Htbrarg  of 

tljF  ICtbrarg  nf 
J^rtttreton  ^li^nlflgtral  g>?mtttar^ 

,1?n  27 


/JZaT 


Slips  for    Librarians   to  paste    on    Catalogue 
Cards. 

N.B. — Take  out  carefully,  leaving  about  quarter  of  an  inch 
at  the  back.  To  do  otherwise  would,  in  some  cases,  release 
other  leaves. 


RABBI  JESHUA.  An  Eastern  Story.  New 
York:  Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  1881.  i2mo,  pp.  xiii, 
189. 

THEOLOGY.  Rabbi  Jeshua.  An  Eastern  Story. 
New  York:  Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  1881.  i2mo, 
pp.   xiii,    189. 

BIBLE  CRITICISM.  Rabbi  Jeshua.  An 
Eastern  Story.  New  York :  Henry  Holt  &  Co., 
1 88 1.      i2mo,  pp.  xiii,   189. 


RABBI    JESHUA. 


RABBI    JESHUA 


1/ 


KJ 


AN   EASTERN   STORY 


r^^' 


"  Write  me  as  one  that  loves  his  fellow-men." 


NEW    YORK 
HENRY   HOLT  AND   COMPANY 

I  88  I 


J.  Campbell, 

PniNTER, 

15  Vaudewater  St.,  N.  Y. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  present  volume  is  intended  to  present,  as 
clearly  as  may  be  possible,  considering  the  scanti- 
ness of  the  original  materials,  the  history  of  a  brief 
burbf-an^ventful  career. 

It    is    true   that   rabbinical    literature  presents 
attractions  only  to  the  few.     One  of  our  popular 
writers  has  confessed  that  even  when  undertaking 
so  serious  a  task  as  the  compilation  of  a  Life  of 
Christ,  he  did  not  consider  it  necessary  to  master  'A/        ' 
the  three  stout  folios  which  comprise  the  Mishna,    Z.  \,,// 
or  text  of  the  Talmud  ;  and  in  common  with  others  '     ;, , 
he  has  condemned  the  study  of  this  early  Jewish 
work — the    epitome    of    law,   custom,    and    belief 
among  the  Hebrews — as  belonging  to  a  literature 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

which  is  quite  unworthy  the   notice  of  a  serious 
scholar. 

..yr  .  Yet  in  spite  of  these  dicta  of  modern  authorities 
(  i 

• ,     there  are  few  stories  more  fascinating  or  pathetic 

«»  A-  than  that  of  the  loving,  passionate,  devoted  life 
V  \]  which  it  is  here  proposed  to  describe  ;  and  it  may 
,,n>'     perhaps  prove  capable,  when  shorn  of  the  quaint 

conceits  of  the  original  Hebrew  chronicle,  and  ^^^^i^V^ ; 
when  illustrated  by  contemporary  literature,  of 
attracting  a  wider  circle  of  readers  than  that  com- 
posed of  rabbinical  students.  It  is  a  narrative  so 
intensely  human,  so  independent  of  merely  local 
colour,  so  noble  and  true  in  spite  of  the  prejudices 
and  ignorance  of  the  chronicler,  that  wherever  the 
love  of  truth  exists  it  must  surely  find  an  attentive 
audience. 

There  are  many  sources  whence  information  may 
be  drawn.  The  apochryphal  accounts  of  Rabbi 
Jeshua's  life  written  in  the  Middle  Ages  have  how- 
ever no  value  or  interest ;  and  although  about  a 
dozen  lives  of  the  Rabbi  were  composed  by  his 
followers  within  a  century  after  his  death,  the 
spirit  of  the  writer,  rather  than  that  of  the  master 
himself,  is,  as  a  rule,  reflected  in  each.     The  views 


INTRODUCTION.  vii 

which  are  ascribed  to  Rabbi  Jeshua  in  these 
works  are  so  diametrically  opposed  to  one  another, 
and  so  self-contradictory,  as  to  make  it  clear 
to  the  critical  reader  that  the  disciples  mingled 
their  own  teaching  with  that  of  their  master, 
and  ranked  their  own  views  as  of  equal  import- 
ance with  his ;  that  they  placed  their  own  words  i 
in  his  mouth,  and  their  own  construction  on  his 
actions. 

One  chronicle  is  often  attributed  to  Rabbi  Saul,  '<^'^ 

pupil  of  Gamaliel,  and  a  native  of  Asia  Minor. 
A  second  breathes  the  spirit  of  the  narrow  Pha-  , 
risaic  sect  of  Shammai.  A  third,  written  by  an  r\  P 
Alexandrine  Jew,  is  full  of  Cabbalistic  lore  and  of 
Egyptian  mysticism.  Rabbi  Jeshua  cannot  have 
belonged  to  all  these  schools  at  once,  and  when  we 
find  the  various  accounts  of  his  actions  to  be 
equally  contrary  in  the  various  versions,  we  are 
led  to  suppose  that  but  little  remains  on  which  we 
can  safely  rely.  \ 

Most  of  these  works  may  perhaps  be  best  re-  'QM>tU-^- 
garded  as  originally  written  for  controversial  pur- 
poses.     The   object   of  the  Jerusalem   version   is  (yLw'^ 
clearly  that  of  showing  how  Rabbi  Jeshua  fulfilled  -  •'-    '' 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 

in  every  respect  the  Pharisaic  expectations  of  a 
Messiah.  The  book  of  Rabbi  Saul,  on  the  other 
hand,  breathes  the  hberal  spirit  of  the  opposite 
party  of  HiUel  and  Gamaliel,  and  introduces  many 
latitudinarian  views  probably  held  by  the  writer 
himself  rather  than  by  the  master  to  whom  he 
attributes  them.  Our  appreciation  of  the  poetic 
beauties  and  truths  of  this  composition,  as  well  as 
of  those  which  may  be  discovered  hidden  among 
the  repulsive  mysticisms  of  the  Alexandrine  ver- 
sion, is  a  sentiment  entirely  distinct  from  the 
question  of  authorship.  To  us  in  the  nineteenth 
century  it  perhaps  matters  little  whether  the 
thoughts  expressed  owe  their  origin  to  Rabbi 
Jeshua,  or  to  one  of  his  followers ;  but  with  regard 
to  the  incidents  of  his  career,  it  is  at  least  necessary 
to  sift  the  evidence,  and  to  endeavour  to  discover 

'    the  true  facts  of  his  life. 

It  is  for  this  reason   that  the  following  pages 

/•    are   principally   based    on    a    short    and   succinct 
account  of  the  life  of  Rabbi   Jeshua,  which  was 
written  by  the  companion   of    one    of   his    first 
disciples,    Simeon   has   Saddik.      Simeon   himself/ 
was   an   illiterate   peasant,  a  man  probably  old^ir 


i 


■t/v'    ''^' 


If^iA.'^ 


^/^ 


INTRODUCTION.  ix 

than  Rabbi  Jeshua,  but  who  survived  him  more 
than  forty  years,  and  retired  before  the  fall  of 
Jerusalem  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Gadara,  east 
of  Jordan. 
-1^^  The  recollections  of  this  aged  puritan  were 
Z^*-  recorded  by  one  of  his  companions.  The  historical  z,''^*"'  , 
u4/^i. sequence  of  the  events  appears  to  have  been  care- 
fully followed,  and  many  of  the  maxims  of  Rabbi 
Jeshua  are  preserved,  interspersed  among  descrip- 
tions of  the  main  events  of  his  short  career.  Thus, 
though  scanty  and  imperfect,  the  information  con- 
tained in  this  work  appears  to  be  genuine  ;  and  it/  ^  g  ^ 
has  evidently  served  as  the  original  basis  of  the 
other  accounts,  for  this  reason,  that  in  no  case  do 
they  agree  in  any  statement  which  contradicts  one 
made  by  Simeon  has  Saddik.  All  the  versions  are 
in  agreement  when  they  follow  that  which  may  be 
considered  to  be  the  original,  and    on  the  other 


hand  no  two  of  the  later  versions  are  in  accord  -^^\7 
concerning  facts  not  noticed  by  Simeon.  Thus  we 
have  the  indication  of  genuineness  in  the  one  case 
and  of  fanciful  elaboration  in  all  the  others,  and 
our  attention  should  be  confined  to  those  state- 
ments which  have  the  best  ricrht  to  be  considered 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

^: 
'  Hw  V .  truthful  because  they  are  found  to  be  common  to 

\nLi  i  . 

'  Aw-{   \cvery  version. 

'^'!^  The  brief  chronicle  which  bears   the   name   of 

Simeon  has  Saddik  is  nevertheless  not  free  from 
i^^  serious  defects  as  an  historic  work.  Though 
^f  •  ^  evidently  written  after  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  it 
attributes  to  Rabbi  Jeshua  a  prophecy  of  that 
)  '  /  /^  event,  and  thus  incurs  the  suspicion  of  belonging  to 
'  '  ■  the  large  class  of  Jewish  apocalypic  literature 
which  abounds  with  pretended  prophecies  of  past 
''/6  events,    a    kind    of    composition    which,    though 

probably  never  intended  to  deceive,  is  often 
branded  by  modern  critics  with  the  name  of 
forgery.  It  is  also  clear  that  the  ignorance  and 
credulity  of  the  peasant  disciple,  though  a  man  of 
vigorous  and  affectionate  nature,  has  incapacitated 
him  in  many  cases  for  rightly  appreciating  the 
lessons  and  motives  of  his  master.  The  super- 
stitious beliefs  of  the  age  find  frequent  expression 
in  the  pages  of  this  chronicle,  but  it  is  by  no  means 
clear  that  they  were  credited  of  Rabbi  Jeshua. 
The  chronicle  of  Simeon  has  nevertheless  this 
Y,cL  advantage  over  the  other  versions,  that  the  number 
^^^,       of  its  miracles  is  smaller ;  and  it  is  clear  that  an 


INTRODUCTION.  xi 

original  account  written  by  a  European  (had 
such  an  account  been  possible)  would  have  been 
entirely  free  from  the  supernatural  element.  As 
however,  no  such  document  exists,  we  must  make 
the  best  use  of  the  genuine  material  available, 
discounting,  as  far  as  possible,  the  idiosyncrasies 
of  the  writer,  and  striving  to  form  some  kind  of 
idea  of  the  actual  facts  which  he  relates. 

In  concluding  these  introductory  remarks  it  may 
be  noted  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  life  which 
we  are  about  to  study  which  would  appear 
extraordinary  or  impossible  if  the  events  were 
supposed  to  have  happened  in  our  own  times,  so 
long  as  the  scene  was  laid,  not  in  Europe,  but  in 
Asia. 

So  unchangeable  is  the  East,  that  the  sentiments 
of  the  modern  Oriental  reproduce,  almost  un- 
changed, the  ideas  and  motives  of  the  Jew  of 
nineteen  centuries  since.  The  loss  of  the  feeling 
of  reverence  which  characterises  the  civilisation  of 
the  West  has  never  occurred  in  the  native  home  of 
the  monotheistic  faiths.  Were  Rabbi  Jeshua  to  be 
re-born  in  the  England  of  to-day  it  would  probably 
be  his  fate  to  be  imprisoned  as  a  vagabond  and 


xii  INTRODUCTION. 

an  impostor ;  but  were  he,  on  the  other  hand,  to 
'  •*■  -"  revisit  his  native  land  he  would  find  but  little 
change  in  the  character  of  the  peasantry  whom  he 
loved,  and  but  little  loss  of  the  religious  instinct 
which  is  still  distinctive  of  the  reverent  and  reverend 

East  ■■    /  y  /  y        '        / 


1^ ./  Ai^^X!^*'''^*^ 


tr>i-^   l^(^  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Hebrew  Hermits            i 

II.     Who  was  Rabbi  Jeshua? ,..         ..  15 

III.  Society  in  the  Tetrarchies 30 

IV.  The  Hope  of  the  People 52 

V.     Rabbi  Jeshua's  Life        68 

VI.     Sayings  of  Rabbi  Jeshua 95 

VII.     The  Death  of  Rabbi  Jeshua 124 

VIII.     Legendary  History 151 

IX.     England  and  Rabbi  Jeshua 171 


RABBI    JESHUA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

HEBREW   HERMITS. 

The  Jordan  valley — Hanan  of  Bethania  —  Monasticism 
among  the  Jews — The  Hasaya  or  "pious" — The  doctrines 
of  Hanan — Prophets  modern  and  ancient  —  Pohtical 
power  of  prophets — Fate  of  Hanan. 

An  open  river  valley  carpeted  with  luxuriant 
herbage  and  gay  with  wild  flowers.  On  either  side 
a  steep  shapeless  ridge  of  dark  grey  limestone 
scarred  with  winter  torrent  beds  and  stained  with 
rusty  patches  of  colour.  In  the  distance  are  black 
precipices  of  basalt  and  white  peaks  of  marl  worn 
by  the  rain  into  fantastic  forms.  A  snowy  moun- 
tain dome  closes  the  view,  a  sky  of  burning  blue 
arches  it  over.  In  the  middle  of  the  flat  valley 
runs  the  great  trench  a  mile  wide  and  a  hundred 
feet  deep,  which  has  been  worn  by  the  river.     Steep 


i/(A^ 


2  RABBI   JESIIUA. 

banks  of  gleaming  marl  flank  the  lower  valley- 
through  which  the  stream  winds  its  way  in  a  ser- 
pentine course.  Scattered  thorn  trees,  a  few 
stunted  palms,  and  huge  thistles  ten  to  fifteen  feet 
in  height,  form  the  most  conspicuous  objects  on 
the  upper  plateau  ;  but  round  the  river  itself,  and 
on  the  islets  in  its  midst  a  thick  jungle  of  cane  and 
brown  tamarisk  almost  conceals  from  view  the 
rapid  swirling  current  of  grey  water  which  slips 
by,  brimming  over  the  flowery  margin  of  the 
channel. 

The  silence  of  the  desert  broods  over  this  wild 
yet  luxuriant  valley.  The  note  of  the  singing  bird 
is  not  heard,  nor  the  sighing  of  the  wind  in  trees. 
The  cry  of  the  eagle  or  the  bark  of  the  jackal  alone 
breaks  the  stillness  of  the  solitude,  and  for  perhaps  a 
fortnight  in  spring  the  green  prairie  is  flecked  with 
white  as  the  solemn  storks  descend  for  a  time  to 
rest  on  their  way  beside  the  springs. 

Yet  down  beside  the  river  itself  a  human  voice  is 
heard  crying  in  the  wilderness,  and  a  crowd  of  eager 
listeners  surround  the  wild  figure  of  the  preacher. 

Clad  in  a  rough  mantle,  girt  with  a  broad  leather 
belt,  his  jetty  curls,  unshorn  since  his  birth,  hang 
on  his  shoulders  in  elf  locks  mingling  with  his 
scanty  beard.  A  sun-scorched  complexion  bears 
witness  to  the  rude  life  of  the  dweller  in  the  desert, 


HEBREW   HERMITS.  3 

and  the  striking  beauty  of  the  features  mari<s  the 
pure  caste  of  a  priestly  family. 

Around  the  hermit  are  gathered  the  inhabitants 
of  city  and  village,  some  of  whom  have  come  from 
a  distance  of  several  days'  journey.  Sleek  rabbis 
from  Jerusalem,  fierce  Roman  mercenaries  and 
native  auxiliaries,  poor  peasants  and  fishermen 
from  Galilee,  prosperous  mechanics  from  Sepphoris 
or  Scythopolis,  tax-gatherers  and  officials,  plough- 
men and  shepherds,  all  eager  to  listen  to  the 
prophet  whose  austere  life  and  bitter  denunciations 
were  famous  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land. 

The    hermit    whom    we    have    thus    described, 
though     perhaps     one    of     the     most    prominent  f/t^  /•'" 
members  of  his  sect,  was  not,  however,  a  unique 
example   of   his    kind.     The   natural   impulse   of  '■'^ 

contemplative  minds  to  separate  from  their  fellows 
was  not  less  powerfully  felt  in  Judea  than  it  has 
been  in  other  lands.  As  civilisation  increased,  and 
the  exigencies  of  Jewish  life  became  more  compli- 
cated, the  observation  of  many  archaic  institutions 
of  the  law  became  almost  impossible  for  the  towns- 
man. Thus  in  the  later  Hasmonean  times  and 
during  the  Herodian  age  we  find  a  sect  of  The- 
rapcutas  springing  up  in  Palestine  and  attaining  a 
reputation   for   sanctity  and  supernatural   powers, 


4  RABBI  JESHUA. 

"which  was  the  natural  inference  from  a  retired  and 
austere  life  in  the  minds  of  an  awe-stricken  and 
superstitious  populace. 

As  among  the  early  hermits  of  Egypt  or  of  our 
own  islands,  so  among  the  Hebrews,  this  movement 
resulted  partly  in  the  creation  of  religious  con- 
fraternities— the  precursors  of  the  great  orders  of 
Christian  monks — and  partly  in  the  retirement  of 
individual  eremites  to  the  solitude  of  the  wilder- 
ness. Pliny  informs  us  that  the  deserts  surrounding 
the  Dead  Sea  were  inhabited  by  these  recluses,  who 
thus  formed  the  prototypes  of  the  famous  Saba 
and  his  companions,  dwelling  in  caves  among  the 
fastnesses  of  the  Kedron  valley.  Josephus  de- 
scribes the  life  of  the  early  hermit  Banu,  or  Bunai, 
who  dwelt  in  the  wilderness  and  was  clothed  only 
with  leaves  or  rushes,  while  his  food  consisted  of 
wild  berries  and  fruits.  Day  and  night  he  per- 
formed frequent  ablutions  in  the  cold  water  of  the 
mountain  springs,  and  spent  his  hours  in  meditation 
and  prayer. 

To  the  same  class  belonged  the  semi-monastic 
sects  of  the  Abionim  (or  "poor")  and  the  Hasaya  (or 
"  pious  "),  the  second  of  which  is  first  mentioned  in 
the  time  of  John  Hyrcanus,  about  140  B.C.  Owning 
no  settled  habitation  in  any  city,  the  ascetic  dwelt 
in  a  common  home  with  his  brethren,  and  had  all 


HEBREW   HERMITS.  5 

things  in  common  with  them.  Stewards  were  ap- 
pointed at  these  monasteries,  as  well  as  brethren 
who  sheltered  the  travelling  members  when  passing 
from  one  station  to  another.  Silence,  chastity, 
obedience,  and  poverty,  were  the  rules  of  the  order. 
Swearing  was  forbidden,  and  a  noviciate  had  to  be 
first  passed  before  the  aspirant  was  admitted  to  the 
four  higher  degrees. 

In  all  these  respects  the  Jewish  religious  orders 
were  indistinguishable  from  the  monks  and  hermits 
of  a  later  age.  Like  them,  they  were  engaged  in 
the  study  of  medicine,  in  religious  duties,  and  in 
agriculture.  They  were  vowed  to  asceticism,  and 
wore  a  distinctive  girdle  and  robe  of  white.  Even 
in  the  Syria  of  our  own  times,  some  echo  of  the 
same  spirit  is  observable  among  the  Druses,  whose 
rules  of  initiation  and  of  retreat  to  the  desert 
recall  those  of  the  Jewish  ascetics. 

The  religious  creed  of  the  Hasaya  was,  however, 
distinctive,  and  in  some  respects  departed  from  the 
strict  orthodoxy  of  the  original  Law.  They  neg- 
lected the  prescribed  sacrifices,  and  the  annual 
visits  to  Jerusalem  ;  they  encouraged  celibacy, 
which  was  a  clear  dereliction  from  the  primary 
duty  inculcated  in  the  very  commencement  of  the 
Holy  Torah,  "  to  increase  and  multiply."  They 
attached  especial  importance  to  frequent  ablutions ; 


6  RABBI  JESHUA. 

and  baptism  became  the  distinctive  ceremony  of 
the  sect.  They  are  even  said  to  have  held  certain 
mystic  tenets  connected  with  sun  worship  and  the 
behef  in  angels,  which  are  certainly  not  traceable 
to  the  law  of  Moses. 

As  physicians,  the  fame  of  the  Hasaya  was 
widely  spread.  Prophecies  were  attributed  by 
common  tradition  to  many  members  of  their  sect, 
and  some  of  these  are  stated  to  have  been  fulfilled 
in  a  remarkable  manner.  As  regarded  the  future 
they  were  complete  fatalists,  but  believed  in  the 
immortality  of  the  soul  and  in  a  future  heaven  and 
hell. 

Thus,  although  in  the  eyes  of  the  most  rigidly 
orthodox  these  religious  orders  may  have  appeared 
to  depart  from  the  strict  observance  of  the  Law, 
and  to  have  been  liable  to  the  stigma  of  heresy, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  by  the  common  people,  and 
even  by  their  rulers,  they  were  regarded  with  a 
veneration  amounting  almost  to  awe,  and  resulting 
from  the  seclusion  and  sanctity  of  their  lives,  not 
less  than  from  their  reputation  for  skill  in  medicine, 
and  for  knowledge  of  mysterious  arts. 

Such,  then,  was  Hanan  of  Bethania,_the  Hebrew 
hermit  of  the  Jordan  valley.  As  a  member  of  the 
sect  of  Hasaya,  he  inculcated  the  duty  of  washing 

in   cold  water   as   conducive  to   chastity.     As    a 

/ 


Aj&'yy 


HEBREW   HERMITS.  7 

prophet,  he  exhorted  his  hearers  to  penitence  and 
good  works,  through  which  the  ardently  expected 
coming  of  Messiah  might  be  quickened  ;  for,  Hke 
Rabbi  Judah,  nearly  two  centuries  later,  he  taught 
that,  through  the  conversion  of  Israel,  the  great 
future  might  be  hastened,  and  that  the  calcu- 
lation of  days  and  weeks,  of  times  and  years,  was 
but  a  vain  waste  of  human  ingenuity,  so  long  as 
the  hearts  of  the  disobedient  were  not  turned  to 
the  wisdom  of  the  just. 

At  a  period  subsequent  to  his  death,  Hanan  was     .^   ^  ^ 
r-  ^ ■:a„ /,      ^ 

regarded  as  the  forerunner  of  Messiah — the  mys-~^y^r  ''*^ 
terious  re-incarnate  Elijah.  To  this  belief  we  must  ^^^'^. 
refer  later  ;  but  it  is  here  sufficient  to  note  that  he 
does  not  himself  appear  to  have  laid  claim  to  this 
mystic  character,  and  that  by  Josephus  he  is  men- 
tioned only  as  an  ascetic,  and  a  preacher  having  an 
unusual  influence  with  the  people. 

Wandering  by  the  banks  of  the  winding  Jordan  ; 
crying  aloud  in  the  great  gorges  through  which 
the  tributary  streams  flow  from  east  and  west  to 
join  the  river ;  sheltered  by  night  in  the  caves 
which  nature  has  blasted  in  the  rough  hill-sides  ; 
fed  by  the  wild  bees,  or  the  locust  swarms,  like 
the  nomad  Arabs  among  whom  he  dwelt,  the 
hermit  of  Bethania  passed  his  life  in  denunciation, 
in  exhortation,  in   the  purifying  rites  of  frequent  . 


8  RABBI  JESHUA. 

washings,  in  the  mortification  of  the  body,  in  fast- 
ihg  and  prayer. 

Even  by  his  contemporaries,  Hanan  was  con- 
sidered as  a  prophet.  It  was  the  gift  which  in  the 
belief  of  the  populace  specially  distinguished  his 
sect  ;  and  the  prediction  of  the  coming  of  Messiah 
was  the  burden  of  his  exhortations. 

In  all  ages  the  Eastern  peoples  have  believed  in 
the  existence  of  prophets  living  in  their  midst. 
Not  only  in  the  Herodian  period,  or  when  Akiba 
roused  the  flame  of  fanaticism  at  Bether,  but  down 
through  the  dark  ages  and  the  mediaeval  period, 
throughout  the  later  history  of  Judaism,  we  find  the 
appearance  of  new  prophets  greeted  by  believing 
crowds.  In  our  own  days  the  Moslem  holds  a 
similar  faith  in  the  inspiration  of  living  prophets. 

The  naked  dervish,  wandering  from  village  to 
village,  living  on  alms  and  trading  on  the  super- 
stitious terrors  of  the  ignorant,  is  the  prophet  of 
the  peasantry.  The  sleek  mollah  whose  writings 
are  disseminated  among  the  educated,  who  pro- 
claims the  future  triumph  of  Islam  over  Western 
civilisation,  and  denounces  the  devices  of  the 
Christian  infidel,  is  the  prophet  of  the  rich  and 
great.  The  belief  in  the  supernatural,  in  posses- 
sion, inspiration,  the  constant  interference  of  the 
unseen  powers,  is  still  an  active  element  of  daily 


HEBREW   HERMITS.  9 

life  in  the  East.  By  such  influences  all  that  is 
strange  or  unusual  in  occurrence  is  easily  ex- 
plained, and,  save  perhaps  among  spiritualists,  we 
have  in  the  West  no  class  which  thus  lives  in 
imagination,  surrounded  with  spells  and  controlled 
by  occult  powers  ;  no  race  whose  daily  actions 
are  in  like  manner  practically  influenced  by  a  belief 
in  the  invisible  world. 

It  is  hard  to  realise  the  results  of  this  familiarity 
with  the  idea  of  the  supernatural  so  universal 
among  Orientals,  so  rare  among  Western  peoples. 
We  are  apt  at  once  to  overrate,  and  yet  to  under- 
calculate,  the  power  of  prophets  among  the 
Hebrews.  We  attach  an  amount  of  dignity  to  the 
character  of  the  seer  far  beyond  that  which  pro- 
perly belongs  to  it  ;  for  we  have  no  prophets 
among  ourselves,  and  we  forget  that  in  the  East 
many  prophets  are  still  to  be  found. 

The  modern  dervish,  no  doubt,  presents  the 
closest  parallel  which  still  exists  to  the  Hebrew 
prophet  of  old.  The  poet,  the  madman,  the  en- 
thusiast, receive,  as  of  yore,  the  reverent  homage  of 
a  simple  folk  ;  and  false  prophets  were  not  less 
commonly  found  among  the  Jews  (as  they  them- 
selves admitted)  than  are  charlatans  and  impostors 
among  the  fanatics  who  have  attained  in  the  Syria 
of  to-day  to  a  reputation  for  sanctity. 


lO  RABBI  JESHUA. 

Preceded  by  the  pipe  and  the  tabret,  the  holy 
man  wanders  as  a  pilgrim  through  the  country. 
Sometimes  he  may  be  seen  writhing  under  an 
ecstasy  which  seems  produced  by  fanatical  excite- 
ment. He  foams  at  the  mouth,  uttering  strange 
cries,  and  wounding  himself  with  knives  or  swords 
like  the  prophets  of  Baal  on  Carmel.  He  will, 
perhaps,  undertake  to  strike  a  bystander  with  a 
sharp  sword  without  producing  a  wound,  or  will 
charm  serpents  from  their  holes,  and  devour 
scorpions  without  injury. 

Neither  fire  nor  poison  nor  the  stroke  of  cold 
steel  can  harm  his  charmed  existence,  and  the 
faithful  will  relate  tales  of  his  miraculous  powers, 
of  those  whose  prayer  he  has  heard  and  answered, 
while  himself  many  miles  away,  or  of  his  acquaint- 
ance with  the  deeds  and  history  of  others  on  whom 
he  sets  eyes  for  the  first  time. 

So  long  as  the  exhortations  of  the  modern  pro- 
phet are  confined  to  abstract  principles  of  morality, 
so  long  as  he  denounces  only  the  enemies  of  the 
existing  power,  his  life  may  be  passed  in  enjoyment 
of  a  high  reputation  without  any  interference  on 
the  part  of  those  who  govern  the  land. 

If,  indeed,  the  local  ruler  be  himself  of  a  pious  or 
a  superstitious  character,  the  prophet  may  be  found 
seated  in  the  council  chamber,  and  though  ragged 


HEBREW   HERMITS.  II 

and  poor,  will  be  treated  with  a  respect  greater 
than  is  shown  by  the  host  to  his  more  wealthy  and 
better-born  guests. 

Occasions  may  however  arise  when  the  enthusiast 
is  directly  opposed  to  the  rulers  of  the  land.  The 
court  religion  may  be  that  of  Baal,  the  faith  of  the 
prophet  that  of  Jehovah.  In  such  a  case  he  must  "JCkU^^' 
try  his  strength  against  the  established  powers, 
and  he  becomes  suddenly  a  person  of  the  highest 
political  importance.  It  was  thus  that  Elijah 
swayed  the  multitude,  and  earned  the  undying 
hatred  of  Jezebel.  It  was  thus  that  Rabbi  Akiba 
raised  the  standard  of  revolt  against  Rome,  and 
deluged  the  mountains  of  Bether  with  Jewish 
blood.  It  is  thus  that  in  our  own  times  we  may 
see  the  mollah  or  the  dervish  spread  the  green 
banner  which  proclaims  war  against  the  perverted 
pasha  not  less  than  against  the  Christian  kafir. 
The  enthusiasm  for  national  faith,  which  is  in  the 
East  the  counterpart  of  Western  patriotism,  may 
thus  at  times  make  a  revolutionist  of  the  prophet ; 
yet  it  is  from  impulse  and  conviction,  rather  than 
from  principle  and  design,  that  Orientals  ever  act, 
and  it  would  be  entirely  wrong  to  brand  the 
popular  leader  as  a  scheming  politician  when  he 
is  in  his  own  eyes  acting  under  direct  inspiration, 
and  in  obedience  to  the  highest  motives,  moral  and 
reii<rious. 


12  RABBI  JESHUA. 

The  power  which  Hanan  the  hermit  exercised 
over  the  populace  was  of  this  peculiar  character. 
He  had  himself  no  political  aspirations,  and  acted 
only  from  a  firm  belief  in  the  coming  Divine 
interference,  which  should  change  the  established 
order  of  things.  Yet  in  the  eyes  of  the  Idumean 
monarch,  whose  hold  on  the  affections  of  the  nation 
was  weakened  by  his  foreign  birth  and  his  semi- 
pagan  tendencies,  Hanan  could  not  but  become 
obnoxious  as  a  possible  leader  of  some  revolu- 
tionary movement. 

A  native  prince  might  be  found  claiming  descent 
from  the  house  of  David  ;  he  might  be  accepted 
by  the  populace,  and  exhorted  by  the  prophet  to 
enforce  his  claims  :  the  visionary  Messiah  might 
become  a  flesh  and  blood  reality,  and  a  movement 
based  on  the  deep  religious  feeling  of  the  Jewish 
nation  might  drive  the  Roman  and  the  Idumean 
alike  from  the  land. 

The  catastrophe  caused  by  such  fears  was  not 
long  delayed.  For  how  many  years  Hanan 
preached  in  the  desert  is  not  known,  but  he  re- 
ceived at  length  the  courteous  request  to  present 
himself  before  the  ruler  of  Galilee  and  Perea,  by 
which  the  crafty  Antipas  concealed  his  design  of 
quietly  forestalling  the  possibility  of  revolt.  Wel- 
comed  at   the  court   with   a   respect   due   to   the 


HEBREW   HERMITS.  1 3 

holiness  of  his  character,  he  was  detained  to  exhort 
the  monarch,  and  boldly  reproved  him  for  the 
licence  of  his  life.  Whether  it  were  through  the 
influence  of  those  women  on  whom  his  denuncia- 
tions fell  most  bitterly,  or  by  reason  of  the  alarm 
which  was  excited  by  the  rapid  growth  of  his 
reputation  and  fame  among  the  Jews,  it  is  certain 
that  he  was  never  again  allowed  to  wander  in 
freedom  among  his  familiar  deserts.  In  the 
gloomy  fortress  which  loolcs  down  from  the  rugged 
eastern  cliffs  upon  the  gleaming  oily  waters  of  the 
Bitter  Sea,  Hanan  pined  in  captivity,  cheered  only 
by  the  furtive  visits  of  his  most  attached  disciples. 
At  length,  when  hisJmjDrisonment  was  no  longer 
rLiriLiiibcrcd  by  the  mass  of  the  people,  his  execu- 
tion was  secretly  ordered,  and  Antipas  succeeded, 
while  thus  ridding  himself  of  a  dangerous  enemy, 
in  casting  the  blame  on  others,  and  in  himself 
appearing  to  regret  a  deed  forced  upon  him 
against  his  will. 

In  thus  relating  the  fate  of  the  hermit,  we  have, 
however,  somewhat  forestalled  the  order  of  our 
narrative,  for  it  was  whilst  Hanan  was  still  preach-^  ^^^^^ 
ing  and  prophesying  at  _Bethania  that  Rahhi  ^^(i,  012^0^ 
Jeshua  first  appeared  prominently  in  public,  and  "^'^^  x}^ 
became  a  convert  to  the  sect  of  the  Hasaya.  z^i^^i^.^ 
Conspicuous  among  the  crowd,  and  already  famous  ^wf^^  ^ 


//j^V  at>^^-. 


"floSlo^    CK^  ^Ck^^^i.^^ 


14  RABBI  JESHUA. 

for  his  piety  and  learning,  this  great  man  was  the 
most  important  convert  that  Hanan  ever  made  ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  influence  of  the  ascetic 
on  his  pupil  was  not  less  important  in  moulding 
the  character  and  influencing  the  fate  of  one  who 
was  afterwards  destined  so  far  to  outstrip  his 
master. 


^-<-^ 


CHAPTER    II. 

WHO   WAS   RABBI  JESHUA  ? 

Modern  paraphrases — Contradictory  legends — A  Galilean 
school— Jewish  education — Rabbi  Jeshua's  boyhood — 
Retreat  to  the  desert. 

It  is  related  of  Doctor  Johnson  that  he  once 
opened  a  paraphrase  of  the  Gospels,  and  found  the 
shortest  verse  in  the  Bible,  "  Jesus  wept,"  elaborated 
into  the  sentence,  "  The  Saviour  of  mankind  melted 
into  a  flood  of  tears."  "  Puppy,"  cried  the  doctor 
in  his  wrath,  and  flung  the  volume  into  the  fire. 

It  was,  however,  easier  for  the  great  critic  to     ^  '  '^ f 
destroy  a  worthless  book  than  it  would  be  to  stamp       ll  O  \ 
out  that  natural  love  of  filling  in  with  vivid  colour- 
ing the  meagre  outlines  of  biography  which  seems 
to  characterise  the  modern  historian.     Even  of  the 
New  Testament  narrative  we  have  more  than  one;^L*<^^u«M 
reproduction,  which  amplifies  in  flowery  verbiage 
the   terse   and    poetic   language    of  the    Hebrew 
author,  and  which  dilutes  tlic  curt  narrative  with 


I6  RABBI   JESHUA. 

a  fanciful,  an  inaccurate,  and  often  a  sentimental 

commentary,   more    remarkable    for  its    orthodoxy 

than  for  the   originality  of  its  reflections.       Have 

we  not  the  beautifully  illustrated  work   of  Canon 

_Farrar,  and  the  yet  larger  book  of  Geikie  ?     Has 

XiVi^trO^^  not  the  life  of  John  the  Baptist  been  elal^orated  so 

"as   to   fill  a   volume?      Have   we   not    even    now 

,  ^  amongst  us   the  descendants  of  that  puppy  with 

■    ^^^^-  j<...,  whom  the  honest  doctor  was  so  wroth,  who  tell  us 

'.'r    ^^^ '  in  sixteen  pages  of  print  the  fact  stamped  on  our 

jL^2  }     memories    by  the    half-dozen  words   which   have 

M>  been  familiar  to  us  from  childhood  ? 

Of  all  periods  which  interest  the  biographer,  that 
of  the  infancy  and  childhood  of  his  hero  is  pro- 
bably the  most  fascinating.  To  record  the  earliest 
indications  of  genius,  the  first  gleams  of  beauty  in 
the  mind,  the  gradual  development  of  a  noble 
character,  is  a  task  in  which  the  true  student  of 
human  nature  must  ever  delight;  and  this  desire  to 
trace  back  the  life  history  of  a  great  man  to  his 
childhood  is  not  less  remarkable  among  the  grinii:^. 
."'  tive  biographers  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  than  among  the 

f  i    V  ^-ic  (Jeij^ies  or  the  Farrars  of  our  own  time. 

.  I  ',       The   honest   chronicle    of    Simeon   has   Saddik 

flnvA*^^     does  not,  however,  attempt  any  such  task.  Whether 

the  parentage  and  ancestry  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  were 

unknown  to  his  humble  follower,  or  whether  the 


WHO   WAS   RABBI   JESIIUA  ?  IJ 

subject  was  considered  of  small  importance  by  the 
disciple,  the  fact  remains  that  the  biography  com- 
mences only  at  that  point  where  its  hero  first  pre- 
sented himself  to  the  notice  of  the  world  ;  and  that 
not  a  single  word  of  preface  or  explanation  is 
therein  given,  to  record,  however  briefly,  the  birth 
and  early  life  of  the  great  Rabbi. 

It  is  true  that  in  the  later  accounts  of  Rabbi 
Jeshua's  life   some   attempts   have  been    made  to 
remedy  this  deficiency  ;    but  these  stories  belong 
rather  to  the  category  of  legend  than  to  that  of 
actual  history,  and  their  want   of  authenticity   is  "^       u 
indicated  by  two  peculiarities,  namely  :  first,  the  inr\j*^t> 
introduction   of  the   marvellous  element,  and  the   '^Hjl^iif' 
use    of    supernatural    machinery  ;     secondly,    the    "^ '/      . 
mutually   contradictory  character  of  the  legends  Jt^v-^tc^ 
themselves.  cit-c-^- 

Thus  in  the  Pharisaic  account  of  Rabbi  Jeshua's       n  h- 
life   we  find  the  statement    that  he  was   born  at         ■ 
Bethlehem,  south  of  Jerusalem — a  statement  which 
might  appekr.  unaccountable  in  view  of   the   fact 
that  he  was  a  Gdiilean,  were  it  not  evident  that  an 
apologetic  work,  whKrh  sought  to  prove  the  Mes- 
sianic claim  of  the  Rabbi,  must  of  necessity  con- 
form to  the  populajr  belief  that  Mess iali_sbim]d,  be    . 
born  in  the  city  of  David.  ^tHh^L.l'^'  ^^ . 

According  then  to  the  tradition  of  the  Jerusalem 

C 


oH' 


}l;:^cu/-^^ 


I8  RABBI  JESHUA. 

school,  Rabbi  Jeshua  was  born  in  the  little  rock- 
cut  stable  adjoining  the  village  inn  —  a  grotto, 
similar  to  the  innumerable  cave  stables  which  are 
burrowed  in  the  hill-sides,  round  Bethlehem,  or  on 
the  slopes  above  the  desert,  where  David  once 
-  watched  his  father's  flocks. 

»        But  there  was  yet  another  prophecy  to  be  fulfilled 

y ,  — "  Gentiles  shall  come  to  thy  light,  and  kings  to 

j^{^          the   brightness    of  thy  rising."     Possibly    on    this 

I      was   founded   the   legend   which   relates   that   the 

Chaldean  sages  from  beyond  Euphrates,  astrologers 

who  had  observed  a  star  in  the  East,  came  to  the 

rocky  cave  to   greet  the  new-born   Messiah  with 

costly  gifts  of  gold  and  spice.     The  same  chronicler 

also  avers  that   Herod  the  Great  ordered  at  this 

time  the  massacre  of  all   the   infants   under  two 

^f/(r-     years  of  age  in  Bethlehem,  and  that  Rabbi  Jeshua 

^^^^-was   only   saved    by   the    opportune    flight   of  his 

>:>  parents  to  Egypt  through  the  Divine  interposition 

of  a  vision  or  dream. 

Perhaps  of  all  great  men  such  legends  exist  or 
have  existed,  for  the  natural  dramatic  instinct  of 
Uc~-{i,.r  uncivilised  chroniclers  tends  to  the  elaboration  of 
an  introduction  worthy  the  dignity  of  the  subse- 
quent career.  But  in  this  case  we  have  the  addi- 
tional motive  that  the  advent  of  the  Messiah  had 
become  in  Rabbi  Jeshua's  time  a  definite  dogma, 


S'^7 


WHO   WAS   RABBI   JESIIUA  ?  19 

cvciy  detail  of  which  had  been  laboriously  worked 

out  by  Rabbinic  exegesis.  ^ 

In  the  chronicle  of  Rabbi^aul  we  find  a  further 
advance  in  the  process  of  elaboration.  The  Jerusalem 
version  is  content  with  the  bare  statement  that 
Rabbi  Jeshua  was  born  at  Bethlehem,  without  any 
explanation  of  the  fact  that  the  scene  of  his  career 
was  mainly  laid  in  Galilee  ;  but  the  pupil  of 
Gamaliel  attempts  to  give  a  reason  for  the  ap- 
parent paradox  in  the  statement  that  Rabbi  Jeshua's  ^ c^-^ 
parents  were  of  the  house  of  David,  and  came  to 
the  town  to  pay  the  tax  levied  by  the  Romans  after 
the  banishment  of  Archelaus  to  Vienne. 

Unfortunately,  however,  this  theory  is  vitiated  by 
the  anachronism  which  it  entails ;  for  if  it  be  true 
that  Rabbi  Jeshua  was  born  in  the  reign  of  Herod 
the  Great,  as  Rabbi  Saul  himself  says,  he  was  already 
ten  years  old  when  the  taxation  by  Cyrenius  com- 
m.cnced.  Nor  is  this  the  only  anachronism  to  be 
noted  in  the  pages  of  Rabbi  Saul  ;  and  it  is  for  such 
reasons  that  we  must  beware  of  accepting  as  au- 
thoritative the  statements  of  a  writer  more  remark- 
able for  the  beauty  of  his  language  and  the  catho- 
licity of  his  sentiments  than  for  the  fidelity  of  his 
historical  statements  concerning  his  hero. 

The  Jerusalem  version,  as  we  have  seen,  describes 
a  visit  of  astrologers  and  a  massacre  of  infants.  It  is 


A  1  iPcuJi  ^^>M^c/U^  f 


20  RABBI  JESIIUA. 

true  that  neither  event  is  recorded  in  the  history  of 
Josephus ;  but  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  pilgrimage 
of  a  few  Chaldean  sheikhs  may  have  been  thought 
unworthy  of  notice,  and  that  the  slaughter  of  the 
twenty  or  thirty  babes,  who  would  have  been  under 
two  years  of  age  at  any  one  time  in  a  little  village 
like  Bethlehem,  may  have  been  forgotten  amongst 
the  many  murders  of  the  cruel  Idumean.  It  is, 
however,  remarkable  that  Rabbi  Saul  omits  both 
these  stories,  and  that,  instead  of  a  hurried  flight 
to  Egypt,  he  speaks  of  the  performance  in  the 
,^^J(T[y^  temple  at  Jerusalem  of  the  rites  of  purification,  and 
it^^'l^i^^   of  the  immediate  return  of  Rabbi  Jeshua's  parents 

to  Galilee. 
'Vtrtt/^^j  None  of  the  other  existing  versions  of  Rabbi 
5;<  *.  Af  Jeshua  s  life  make  any  allusions  to  tho  legends  of 
Yi^'>^/.  ^^^  birth  and  childhood  ;  but  among  the  discordant 
traditions  which  are  noticed  by  the  Jerusalem 
,     „  chronicle,  and   that   of  Rabbi   Saul,  there:  is  one 

L ;  V  lU^       which,  however  legendaiy  it  may  be,  deserves   a 
^i  Jn^^  ,    passing  notice  on  account  of  its  poetic  beauty. 

Rabbi  Saul  relates  that  on  the  night  when  Rabbi 
Jeshua  was  born  in  the  cave  stable  of  the  Khan, 
there  were  shepherds  watching  their  herds  of  black 
goats  and  fat-tailed  sheep  on  the  dreary  chalk 
plateau  of  Migdol  Eder,  where,  according  to  the 
rabbis,  the  Messiah  was  first  to  appear  advancing 


WHO   WAS   RABBI   JESHUA?  21 

from  the  great  desert  beneath,  clad  in  garments 
dyed  red  with  blood. 

In  the  gloomy  caves  which  here  formed  the 
night  shelter  of  the  flocks,  hedged  in  with  the 
prickly  thorns  of  the  lotos,  and  crouched  round  the 
smouldering  fire  of  mastic  shrubs,  the  rude  herds- 
men sat  among  their  beasts  in  the  dark  and  cold. 
The  bitter  wind  from  the  sea  swept  across  that 
barren  wold  ;  and  in  the  fitful  moonlight  the  thick 
flakes  of  snow  might  be  seen  falling  silently. 

Then,  according  to  the  poetic  fancy  of  the  writer, 
a  beam  of  celestial  light  pierced  throughthe  night, 
and  the  white  forms  of  the  feathered  angel-host 
were  seen  in  the  glory  of  its  radiance  sailing 
through  the  snowstorm  and  rejoicing  in  strains 
which  rose  above  the  fury  of  the  gale,  while  they 
announced  to  the  terror-stricken  hinds  the  advent 
of  the  long  expected  Messiah.  Surely  if  there 
were  any  to  whom  such  message  of  the  birth  of 
Rabbi  Jeshua  should  have  been  told  it  was  to  the 
poor,  the  ignorant,  the  despised  peasantry,  whom 
he  loved,  and  among  whom  he  lived  and  worked. 

But  in  thus  enumerating  the  legends  which  sur- 
round the  birth  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  we  have  wandered 
beyond  the  sober  pale  of  history,  and  have  deserted 
the  simple  story  as  related  by  Simeon  has  Saddik. 
Of  the  birth,  parentage,  and  childhood  of  his  master 


22  RALCI  JESIIUA. 

he  gives  us  no  account,  and  of  the  fabulous  and 
contradictory  genealogies  which  appear  in  the 
other  chronicles  not  a  trace  is  found  in  the  earlier 
narrative. 

It  is  even  entirely  uncertain  to  what  city  Rabbi 
Jeshua  belonged,  whether  to  Nazareth,  in  the  hills 
of  Zebulon,  or  to  Capharnahum,  on  the  borders  of 
the  lake  of  Kinnereth.  It  is  uncertain  from  what 
tribe  he  was  descended  ;  and,  as  will  be  seen  later, 
there  is  no  good  reason  to  suppose  that  he  be- 
longed to  the  house  of  David,  which  (although 
the  famous  Hillel  is  said  to  have  claimed  a  descent 
from  David  on  his  mother's  side)  had  probably 
become  extinct  even  earlier  than  the  Maccabean 
period  ;  and  would  have  been  hunted  down  by 
the  Idumean  kings,  had  any  representatives  re- 
mained, with  the  same  remorseless  cruelty  which 
was  shown  in  the  murder  of  the  last  surviving 
members  of  the  princely  family  of  the  Hasmoneans. 

It  seems  probable  that  the  father  of  Rabbi 
Jeshua  was  a  mechanic,  and  that  he  belonged  to 
the  small  class  (whence  many  other  famous  rabbis 
had  sprung)  of  those  who,  removed  by  one  degree 
from  the  abject  poverty  and  ceaseless  toil  of  the 
ploughman  or  the  goatherd,  were  yet  obliged  to 
support  themselves  by  their  simple  skill  in  the 
craft  of  carpentry  or  smith's  work,  tent-weaving  or 


WHO   WAS   RABBI   JESIIUA  ?  23 

pottery — the  primitive  trades  of  an  uncivilized 
agricultural  race. 

One  scene  alone  we  are  able  to  picture  to  the 
mind's  eye.  It  is  the  interior  of  a  squalid  building 
rudely  constructed  of  stone,  with  a  domed  roof 
and  whitewashed  walls,  a  wooden  desk  or  cup- 
board on  one  side,  and  an  inscription  in  Hebrew 
over  the  door.  From  the  building  as  we  approach 
comes  the  hum  of  many  children's  voices,  re- 
peating the  verses  of  the  sacred  Torah  in  unthink- 
ing and  perfunctory  monotone. 

The  aged  teacher  sits  silent  in  the  midst.  As 
we  look  in,  we  see  his  huge  turban,  his  grey  beard, 
and  solemn  features  appearing  over  the  ruddy  facps 
of  the  dark-eyed  boys  who  sit  on  the  floor  around 
him.  The  long  row  of  tiny  red  slippers  extends 
along  the  wall  near  the  door.  The  earthern  water- 
bottle  stands  on  the  mat  beside  the  Khazzan,  or 
synagogue  teacher,  and  in  the  cool  shade  of  that 
dingy  room  the  ceaseless  murmur  *of  the  humble 
scholars  of  the  village  goes  forth  in  the  silence  of 
the  hot  Eastern  noon. 

They  are  children  of  the  richer  members  of  the 
village  community  :  of  the  Batlanim,  or  "  men  of 
leisure,"  who  form  the  representative  congregation 
at  every  synagogue  service ;  of  the  "  standing 
men,"  who  go  up  yearly  with  the  village  priest  for 


24  RABBI   JESHUA. 

a  week  to  Jerusalem,  to  fulfil  similar  functions  in 
the  Temple  ritual.  The  poor  cowherd  may  gaze 
from  the  door  (standing  in  the  scorching  sun  as 
his  goats  wander  past)  at  the  cool  room  with  its 
chattering  scholars  ;  but  he  has  no  money  to  pay 
the  Khazzan's  fee,  and  must  live  and  die  like  his 
forefathers,  ignorant  of  even  the  letters  of  the 
alphabet. 

Alone  among  this  little  crowd,  we  mark  the 
"^^^"^ '^noble  and  beautiful  child,  who  is  hereafter  to  be 
Rabban  Jeshua  has  Saddik.  We  note  how  the 
glorious  words  of  the  old  Hebrew  poets  go  home 
to  his  heart.  We  know  how  he  ponders  over  the 
comments  of  the  teacher,  and  treasures  the  assur- 
ance that  these  old  prophecies  refer  not  to  a  long 
departed  and  glorious  history,  but  to  the  great 
hopes  of  the  future  for  Israel,  to  the  reign  of  the 
Prince  Messiah,  and  the  triumph  of  the  faith  of 
Jehovah. 

In  those  dark  eyes  the  fire  of  genius  already 
burns.  In  those  eager  and_^remulous  features,  the 
enthusiasm  of  a  great  nature  is  already  manifest. 
In  the  lessons  of  the  village  school  in  Galilee,  the 
foundation  of  a  world-wide  fame  is  laid. 

Such  was  the  education  of  Rabbi  Jeshua.  To 
the  Jew,  the  rearing  of  children  was  one  of  the 
most  important  of  human  duties.     "  By  the  breath 


WHO  WAS  RABBI  JESHUA  ?  25 

of  the  school  children,"  says  one  rabbi,  "  the  world 
is  saved."  Even  on  the  Sabbath  eve  they  might 
be  taught,  and  not  for  the  building  of  the  Temple 
itself  might  their  education  be  laid  aside. 

But  what  was  meant  by  education .-'  Was  it 
such  as  we  now  witness  in  the  West.**  the  inculcation 
of  elementary  truths  of  science  and  history,  arith- 
metic or  art  ?  "  At  five  years,"  said  Judah  son  of 
Tamai,  "  a  child  should  study  the  Bible,  and  at 
ten  the  Mishna."  It  is  the  prototype  of  the 
modern  Moslem  school  that  we  should  recognise 
in  the  ancient  synagogue  teaching.  It  was  the 
study  of  the  sacred  Torah  which,  like  the  study 
of  the  Koran  among  Moslem  children,  formed  the 
sum  total  of  education. 

The  great  _si]uare  letters  in  which  sacred  books 
were  written  were  learned  by  the  infant  Jeshua  in 
the  Galilean  schoolroom.  From  his  rustic  master 
he  derived  the  traditional  interpretation  of  the 
holy  books,  against  which  in  the  years  of  his  man-  /"'• 
hood  his  sense  of  truth  rebelled.  With  Hillel  and 
Shammai,  indeed — the  great  Jerusalem  rabbis — 
he  was  unacquainted,  nor  was  he  probably  ever 
received  into  the  college  which  their  pupils  then 
taught  at  the  capital.  The  originality  of  his  genius 
was  not  warped  by  the  narrow  Pharisaic  spirit;  but 
the  bent  of  his   mind   was  nevertheless  directed 


26  RABBI  JESHUA. 

by  those  days  in  the  dark  synagogue  school  to- 
wards that  intent  study  of  the  Law  of  Moses, 
through  which  he  became  at  length  a  master  in 
Israel. 

Thus,  ignorant  of  such  science  as  the  world  then 
knew,  unacquainted  alike  with  the  mystic  philo- 
sophy of  Egypt  or  Asia  Minor,  with  the  discoveries 
of  heathen  students,  with  the  history  of  foreign 
lands,  Rabbi  Jeshua's  ardent  and  poetic  nature 
developed  year  by  year  under  the  influence  of  a 
religious  training.  The  Songs  of  David  became 
precious  to  him ;  the  parables  which  surrounded 
him  by  sea  and  land  were  read  by  the  eyes  of 
inborn  genius ;  the  hopes  of  the  chosen  race  became 
the  desires  of  his  heart.  Unknown  and  unheeded  by 
the  goatherds  and  cowherds,  the  fishers  and  crafts- 
men, the  dull  rabbis  and  the  fanatic  Pharisees,  the 
growth  of  a  master-mind  went  on  in  their  midst. 
^  •  ,  With  early  manhood  came  that  other  influence 
,/3  aY  ^^^^^^y  noticed — the  preaching  of  Hanan,  the 
hermit  of  Bethania.  Already,  no  doubt,  the  hypo- 
crisies of  orthodoxy,  the  man-made  dogmas  of 
rabbinical  commentators,  the  specious  evasions 
of  the  plain  meaning  of  the  Law,  the  disingenuous 
explanations  of  ungrateful  facts,  had  disgusted  the 
truth-seeking  student  with  the  constituted  creed  of 
the  land. 


WHO   WAS   RABBI  JESIIUA  ?  2/ 

To  Hanan,  then,  he  turned  as  a  guide  and  a 
master.  In  him  he  found  the  earnestness,  the  en- 
thusiasm, the  austere  and  fanatic  self-devotion 
which  could  satisfy  his  nature:  and  to  the  sect  of  z'^" 
the  Hasaya  he  became  attached  so  soon  as  he  had  / 
received  from  the  hermit's  hand  the  initiatory  rite 
of  ablution. 

From  the  river  banks  and  the  crowds  of  listeners, 
he  fled  at  first  to  the  solitude  of  the  desert.  He 
sought,  as  Elijah  of  old,  the  retreat  where  he 
might  brood  undisturbed  over  the  thoughts  which 
strove  within  him.  How  long  his  hermit  life 
endured  Rabbi  Simeon  does  not  tell  us ;  but 
we  know  at  least  that  he  only  returned  to  Galilee 
after  the  death  of  Hanan,  and  it  is  probable 
therefore  that  the  forty  days  to  which  other  chro- 
niclers confine  his  stay  in  the  wilderness  owe  their 
origin  rather  to  an  attempted  parallelism  between 
Rabbi  Jeshua  and  his  forerunner  Elijah,  than  to 
any  source  of  actual  information. 

Of  the  hermit  Hfe  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  after  his,  cot> 
version  to  the  Hasay^  tenets,  Simeon,  the  chro- 
nicler, speaks  with  awe.  The  dreary  wastes  round 
the  Bitter  Sea,  the  marl  hills  with  their  salt  streams, 
the  red  cliffs  with  their  caverns,  the  ghastly  and 
fantastic  chalk-peaks,  the  tangled  jungle  of  Jordan, 
constituted   a   region    of  dreadful    solitude   com- 


28  RABBI   JESHUA. 

monly  believed  to  be  haunted  by  unclean  spirits. 
Here,  fed  by  the  lotus  fruit,  the  locusts,  or  the  wild 
bees,  the  solitary  rabbi  wandered.  Later  chro- 
niclers have  claimed  to  know  the  various  details  of 
r  ,  weird  temptations  which  beset  him,  and  have 
^'^<»jt^'^  elaborated  out  of  the  narrative  of  Simeon  has 
Saddik  a  legendary  history  of  a  rabbinical  con- 
test between  Jeshua  and  the  fiend.  They  quote, 
however,  no  authority  for  their  account  of  these 
wonderful  facts  ;  and  when  we  remember  the  im- 
mense development  of  supernatural  machinery  in 
their  narratives  as  contrasted  with  that  of  Simeon, 
we  are  led  to  suspect  the  addition  of  marvellous 
embellishments,  such  as  Oriental  writers  appear  to 
consider  not  beyond  the  legitimate  licence  of  an 
elegant  historian,  just  as  some  artists  allow  them- 
selves the  use  of  fancy  foregrounds  to  actual  scenes. 
The  answer  to  our  first  question  remains  there- 
fore almost  a  negative.  Who  was  Rabbi  Jeshua  .-* 
What  were  his  parents,  his  descent,  his  tribe,  his 
home  ?  What  were  the  facts  of  his  desert  life, 
the  thoughts  which  grew  up  in  his  mind  in  soli- 
tude .''  The  answer  must  still  be,  that  we  do  not 
know.  If  we  would  avoid  the  charge  of  diluting 
history  with  fanciful  illustration,  and  of  accepting 
with  equal  credulity  the  legends  of  later  chroniclers 
and  the  superstitions  of  the  original  biography,  we 


WHO  WAS  RABBI  JESHUA  ?  29 

must  be  content  to  record  the  simple  facts  that  a 
Jewish  child  grew  up  in  Galilee  to  manhood,  and 
retreated  from  men  to  a  hermit  life  in  the  wilder- 
ness. For  there  are  probably  f^  in  the  nineteenth 
century  who  would  think  themselves  justified  in 
adding  to  such  an  account  the  quaint  conceit  ot 
Rabbi  Simeon's  narrative  that  "he  was  in  the 
wilderness  tempted  of  Satan,  and  was  with  the 
wild  beasts,  and  the  angels  ministered  to  him." 

"7- 


CHAPTER  III. 

■  SOCIETY  IN  THE  TETRARCHIES. 

The  Procurator  of  Judea — Roman  rule  in  Syria— Imitation 
of  Roman  civilisation  by  the  Herodians — Life  in  Jerusa- 
lem— Political  parties — Hillel  and  Shammai  —  Jewish 
metaphysics — Scientific  ignorance — Cynicism — A  stu- 
dent's life — The  peasantry — Superstition— Ideas  of  the 
future — The  national  expectation. 

How  invaluable  to  the  student  of  Jewish  history- 
would  be  the  memoirs  of  a  Roman  procurator  at 
Jerusalem  in  the  first  century  of  our  era.  How 
fresh  would  be  the  light  which  might  be  thrown  on 
the  society  of  the  times  by  the  comments  of  an 
educated  and  refined  heathen  charged  with  the 
task  of  governing  an  almost  ungovernable  people. 

We  may  picture  to  ourselves  the  astonishment 
with  which  a  statesman  accustomed  to  the  simple 
policy  of  "  Panem  et  Circenses  "  would  regard  the 
outburst  of  fanaticism  roused  by  his  attempts  to 
gain  popularity.  He  finds  the  leaven  of  the 
heathen  regarded  with  abhorrence,  and  the  games 


SOCIETY  IN  THE  TETRARCIIIES.  3 1 

of  the  circus  treated  as  degrading  exhibitions. 
Even  the  attempt  to  supply  the  city  with  fresh 
water  through  a  well-made  aqueduct  leads  to  a 
riot.  The  populace  refuse  to  be  awed,  to  be  coaxed, 
or  even  to  be  amused. 

How  squalid  and  ugly  the  Holy  City  itself  must 
have  appeared  to  the  Italian  fresh  from  the  glories 
of  imperial  Rome.  How  he  must  have  missed  the 
fair  gardens,  the  public  baths,  and  the  great  river ; 
and  what  could  there  be  to  interest  the  fellow- 
countrymen  of  Horace  and  Virgil  in  the  eager 
speculations  of  the  rabbis  on  the  permissibility  of 
wearing  a  wooden  leg  on  the  Sabbath  ? 

The  absence  of  any  aesthetic  feeling  in  the  archi- 
tecture of  the  city,  or  in  the  rude  native  manu- 
factures, must  have  been  equally  at  variance  with 
the  elegant  taste  of  the  Italian.  Had  not  the 
Golden  Eagle — a  solitary  ornament  to  the  immense 
Temple  facade — been  recently  hacked  to  pieces  by 
fanatic  priests  .?  What  could  compensate  in  the  "sor- 
did and  absurd  "  rites  of  the  sanctuary  for  the  gay 
processions  of  flower-crowned  youths  and  maidens, 
for  the  wondrous  beauty  of  the  statues,  for  the 
pomp  and  enjoyment  of  an  Italian  feast-day.^  How 
lugubrious  in  his  ears  must  the  blast  of  the  great 
goat-horns  and  the  monotonous  beat  of  the  tabors 
have  sounded.     How  hateful  in  time  must  the  im- 


32  RABBI  JESHUA. 

mutable  solemnity  and  fanatical  abhorrence,  which 
manifested  themselves  in  every  face  his  look  en- 
countered, have  become  to  the  cultivated  and 
refined  patrician  condemned  to  the  exile  of  a 
Syrian  capital. 

Among  all  their  subjects  there  were  perhaps 
none  whom  the  great  Roman  race  found  harder  to 
rule  or  more  difficult  to  understand  than  the  Jews. 
The  power  of  self-adaptation  was  perhaps  not  less 
a  cause  of  Roman  success  than  the -hardy  courage 
by  which  they  first  won  their  empire.  The  wise 
tolerance  through  which  Alexander  subdued  so 
many  different  races  became  a  maxim  of  the  state- 
craft of  the  shrewd  Italian  nation,  and  the  rule  of 
the  Romans  was  preferred  by  the  Jews  to  the 
tyranny  of  the  Idumean  kings.  But  in  the 
Hebrews  the  Latins  found  a  people  so  utterly 
intolerant  of  every  creed  save  their  own  as  to  be 
deaf  to  every  suggestion  of  a  common  belief  veiled 
by  variety  of  symbols,  and  yet  possessing  so  fierce 
an  intensity  of  character,  so  complete  a  conviction, 
so  absolute  an  individuality,  as  to  render  it  im- 
possible that  their  conquerors  should  ignore  the 
faith  of  their  subjects  or  substitute  the  ritual  of 
Jove  for  the  rites  of  Jehovah. 

"All  things,"  says  the  Roman  historian,  "are 
with  them  profane  which  are  with  us  sacred ;  and 


SOCIETY   IN   THE   TETRARCHIES.  33 

again,  those  practices  are  allowed  among  them 
which  are  by  us  esteemed  most  abominable." 
"  The  Jews,"  he  adds,  "  have  no  conception  of  more 
than  one  divine  being.  Among  themselves  there 
is  an  ever  ready  and  unchanging  fidelity  and  kind- 
ness, but  bitter  enmity  to  all  others." 

Not  that  the  great  Italians  were  incapable  of 
appreciating  all  that  was  noble  and  poetic  in  the 
•faith  of  the  Hebrews.  In  the  Augustan  age  the 
poetry  of  the  Jews  found  its  way  to  the  capital 
of  the  world,  and  in  Virgil's  Eclogues  we  are 
astonished  to  recognise  the  influence  of  Messianic 
literature.  The  Alexandrine  poem  written  in 
Greek,  and  recording,  under  the  guise  of  prophecy, 
the  events  of  the  great  struggles  preceding  the 
establishment  of  the  Empire,  and  concluding  with 
the  epical  description  of  the  reign  of  Messiah,  was 
read,  admired,  and  paraphrased  by  the  learned  dilet- 
tanti of  Italy ;  and  in  the  Sibylline  books  we 
recognise  the  reflex  action  of  the  East  on  the 
West,  the  influence  of  the  Hebrew  on  his  Roman 
master. 

Yet,  though  the  race-pride  of  the  self-chosen 
people  estranged  them  from  their  conquerors,  who 
for  their  part  regarded  them  with  mingled  con- 
tempt and  astonishment,  the  wise  rule  of  the 
Romans   rendered   them   more   acceptable  to  the 

D 


34  RABBI  JESHUA. 

Jewish  nation  than  were  the  Idumean  monarchs, 
who  professed  to  be  worshippers  of  Jehovah. 

When  the  great  tyrant  died  at  Jericho,  and 
Augustus  decided  the  quarrels  of  his  heirs  by 
carving  his  dominions  into  four  small  provinces, 
the  first  petition  preferred  by  the  Jews,  and  again 
reiterated  until  finally  granted,  was  not  the  recog- 
nition of  a  native  prince,  but  the  union  of  the 
Judean  tetrarchy  with  the  exclusively  Roman  pro- 
vince of  Coele  Syria. 

From  the  time  of  the  wise  Maccabeus  onwards  the 
Jews  had  indeed  been  accustomed  to  regard  Rome 
as  the  safest  ally  for  the  holy  nation  ;  and,  Avith  ex- 
ception of  the  short  episode  of  the  violent  and  unwise 
tyranny  of  Pontius  Pilate,  which  endured  only  ten 
years,  the  rule  of  the  procurators  for  half  a  century 
appears  to  have  secured  for  the  country  a  greater 
degree  of  peace  and  prosperity  than  it  had  ever 
boasted  since  the  death  of  Simon  the  Hasmonean. 

It  is  not  easy  to  grasp  at  first  the  idea  of  that 
half-civilised  society  which  must  in  the  East  have 
resulted  from  a  provincial  imitation  of  the  manners 
of  the  Roman  capital.  Yet  we  have  abundant 
evidence  that  some  such  copy  of  pagan  society  was 
presented  by  the  little  court  of  Antipas  not  less 
than  by  that  of  his  father  Herod.  In  the  Alex- 
andria or  Beirut  of  to-day  we  may  perhaps  con- 


SOCIETY  IN  THE  TETRARCIIIES.  3$ 

template  a  similar  reflex  of  Western  civilisation 
influencing  an  Oriental  people.  We  find  the 
fashions,  the  customs,  the  vices  of  Europe  cari- 
catured as  it  were  among  the  more  worthless 
and  dissipated  of  the  rising  generation  in  the 
Levant.  We  find  cheap  reproductions  of  West- 
ern manufactures,  tawdry  imitations  of  Western 
luxuries,  absurd  exaggerations  of  Western  customs, 
feeble  reproductions  of  Western  art  and  thought. 
The  imitation  lacks  the  vigour,  the  individuality, 
and  the  beauty  of  the  original ;  and  the  absence  of 
that  spirit  of  humour  which  distinguishes  the 
European  from  the  Asiatic,  converts  the  polished 
product  of  Aryan  development  into  a  ludicrously 
solemn  and  childishly  feeble  travesty. 

Such  no  doubt  was  the  result  of  an  attempt  at 
the  reproduction  of  Roman  civilisation  by  the 
semi-pagan  Idumean  monarchs.  The  country  had 
been  impoverished  by  the  imposts  laid  on  the  Jews 
for  the  adornment  of  the  coast  cities  inhabited  by 
pagans :  yet  how  poor  appear  these  boasted  works 
compared  with  the  great  productions  of  Italian 
genius.  How  barbarous  and  debased  is  the  semi- 
classic  style  of  the  imperfectly  carved  cornices 
which  still  appear  above  the  porches  of  the  rock- 
cut  tombs  of  Judea,  belonging  to  this  vaunted 
period  of  a  superficial  prosperity. 


36  RABBI  JESIIUA. 

In  Jerusalem  it  is  true  that  a  theatre  and  a 
hippodrome  were  erected  by  the  Herods ;  and 
Arab  robbers  may  perhaps  have  been  occasionally 
condemned  to  fight  For  their  lives  with  panthers 
from  Jordan,  or  with  a  few  hyenas  from  the 
mountains.  But  where  were  to  be  found  the 
enthusiastic  masses  which  thronged  the  great 
amphitheatres  of  Italy,  and  whose  fierce  delight 
rendered  the  meaning  of  such  a  spectacle  compre- 
hensible ?  A  trembling  crowd  without,  a  few  dis- 
sipated youths  within,  a  spirit  of  undying  hatred 
roused  by  an  exhibition  of  remorseless  cruelty,  were 
all  that  could  be  expected  in  the  Holy  City. 

Such  we  may  perhaps  imagine  was  the  pagan 
aspect  of  Syrian  society  : — a  Roman  procurator 
despising  his  subjects,  and  lamenting  his  exile  from 
the  pleasures  and  luxuries  of  Rome  ;  an  Idumean 
court,  feebly  aping  the  manners  and  the  arts  of  the 
West,  hated  by  the  nation  and  despised  by  the 
conquerors  ;  a  half-hearted  attempt  to  reform  the 
immutable  East  after  the  contemporary  fashion  of 
the  ever-changing  West. 

But  what  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  itself  was 
the  condition  of  the  country  and  of  the  race  ? 
"He  who  has  not  seen  Jerusalem,"  said  a  rabbi 
who  perhaps  never  travelled  more  than  a  sabbath 
day's  journey  beyond  its  walls,  "has  never  seen  a 


SOCIETY  IN  THE  TETRARCHIES.  37 

beautiful  city."  Entering  within  its  tower-crowned 
walls  the  Jew  passed  with  awe  the  palace-gardens 
where  thousands  of  doves  circled  among  the  trees, 
and  where  it  was  whispered  that  brazen  idols  of 
the  heathen  ran  with  water  as  cool  fountains 
among  the  groves.  Here  in  the  narrow  shady 
street  the  money-changers  sat  before  their  piles 
of  silver.  Here  among  camels  and  asses,  heaps  of 
fruit  and  vegetables,  the  solemn  rabbis  jostled  the 
sun-brown  peasant  crowds  which  chattered  over 
their  produce  in  the  glaring  dusty  market-place. 
Here  was  the  very  window  of  the  college  where 
the  great  Hillcl  was  found  frozen  and  snow- 
covered,  listening  as  a  youth  to  the  teaching  of  the 
rabbis  whose  instruction  he  was  too  poor  to  pay 
for,  yet  of  whom  only  five  years  later  he  became 
the  prince  and  leader.  Here  again  bloomed  the 
one  rose-garden  which  remained  from  the  time  of 
the  Prophets.  Here  on  all  sides  rose  the  palaces  of 
priests  and  princes,  the  wondrous  bridge,  the 
mighty  ramparts  of  the  Temple. 

Down  the  roughly  paved  lane,  through  the  cool 
fruit  market,  over  the  bridge,  the  pilgrim  passed  to 
the  Holy  House,  and  through  the  great  cloisters, 
whose  gigantic  columns  stood  half-built  round  the 
broad  and  rocky  platform.  Here  in  their  booths 
sat  the  money-changers  and  the  sellers  of  sacrifices. 


38  RABBI  JESHUA. 

In  the  centre  rose  the  huge  fane  gh'tterlng  with 
barbaric  gold  ;  while  on  the  oaken  trellice  above 
the  mystic  veil  the  great  bunches  of  golden  grapes, 
each  six  feet  high,  hung  by  their  hooks  from  the 
golden  vine  stem. 

Passing  by  the  stone  piers,  with  inscriptions  in 
an  unknown  tongue  which  warned  the  accursed 
heathen  to  remain  at  a  fitting  distance,  the  devout 
Jew  entered  the  inner  enclosure.  Here  in  the 
galleries  sat  his  veiled  fellow  country-women ;  while 
on  the  floor  of  the  court,  in  the  glare  of  the  great 
candlesticks,  goodly  youths  danced  in  the  cool  of 
the  starry  night,  with  torches  in  their  hands,  singing 
the  psalm  of  the  feast-day.  Or  in  the  day-time  the 
rabbis  famous  from  Dan  to  Beersheba  might  be 
seen,  sitting  on  the  steps  of  the  court,  teaching 
their  disciples ;  the  lepers  might  be  watched  as  they 
came  up  to  stick  a  thumb  and  a  toe  through  the 
brazen  gate  to  the  priest  who  purified  them  from 
within.  The  blast  of  the  goat-horns  summoned 
the  congregation  to  the  sacrifice.  The  rude  pile  of 
stone  and  pebbles,  gleaming  with  whitewash  and 
streaming  with  blood,  smoked  with  the  three 
columns  of  its  pine  wood  fires.  The  lowing  of  oxen 
and  the  bleating  of  flocks  mingled  with  the  chant 
of  the  Levites,  as  the  golden  vessels  were  borne  up 
the  steps  of  the  Holy  House,  and  the  priests  dis- 


SOCIETY   IN   THE   TETRARCIIIES.  39 

appeared  behind  the  veil  into  the  solemn  shadow 
of  the  unapproachable  sanctuary. 

How  unfamiliar  to  most  of  us  are  the  scenes  of 
that  ancient  life  in  Jerusalem.  Can  we  picture  the 
sadness  of  the  autumn  fast  for  rain  when  in  the 
sultry  mid-day,  beneath  a  heaven  grey  with  the  east 
wind,  the  arks  were  brought  out  of  the  synagogues 
into  the  market-place  and  strewn  with  ashes  ?  Or 
the  joy  of  the  people  when  the  stormy  downpour 
flooded  the  streets  and  threatened  to  submerge  the 
"  Stone  of  Proclamation  "  itself  ?  Can  we  realise 
the  hospitality  which  provided  a  free  table  for 
strangers  at  the  door  of  every  house  in  Jerusalem, 
or  see  in  imagination  the  search  by  candlelight  for 
leaven  in  every  room  or  cellar  before  the  Passover 
— the  yearly  dances  of  the  maidens  with  willow 
branches,  the  yearly  procession  of  baskets  with  the 
firstfruits,  the  dismissal  of  the  black  goat  to  the 
desert  mountain  down  which  he  was  dashed,  or 
the  booths  which  rose  on  the  housetops  at  the 
autumn  feast  ? 

From  such  hints  of  a  condition  of  life  which  has 
no  modern  counterpart  we  might  gather  the  out- 
ward aspect  of  the  Holy  City,  the  capital  of  the 
country,  and  the  centre  to  which  the  devout  multi- 
tude continually  gravitated.  But  as  Jerusalem 
with    its     sanctuary    contrasted    with    the     mud 


40  RABBI  JESIIUA. 

hamlets  of  the  surrounding  land,  forming  the  ideal  of 
beauty  and  splendour  to  the  simple  people  to  whom 
the  capitals  of  the  world  were  unknown,  so  did  the 
city  life  contrast  with  that  of  the  rural  peasant  popu- 
lation. A  marked  line  separated  the  rich  from  the 
poor — the  priest  or  rabbi  from  the  "  people  of  the 
land,"  the  student  from  the  rustic.  No  middle  class 
of  merchants,  traders,  or  bourgeois  existed,  no  link 
between  the  two  ranks  of  society ;  and  the  broad  dis- 
tinction thus  remarkable  had  an  influence  on  the., 
history  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  which  renders  it  of  peculiar 
interest  for  the  purpose  of  the  present  inquiry. 

Let  us  consider  first  the  life  of  the  upper  class 
of  the  Jewish  nation.  Politically,  they  were  divided 
into  three  parties  at  the  capital,  and  from  a  re- 
ligious point  of  view  into  two.  There  was  the 
great  popular  party,  whose  hope  lay  in  the  expect- 
ation of  a  national  future,  which  had  ceased  for 
more  than  a  century  to  be  better  than  a  dream. 
There  was  the  Herodian  faction,  which  schemed 
and  plotted  for  the  restoration  of  Archelaus.  There 
was  the  rich  and  powerful  party  which,  led  by  the 
great  priestly  family  of  Hanan,  supported  the 
existing  authority  of  the  Roman  procurator.  The 
Pharisees,  who  were  ever  the  leaders  of  the  multi- 
tude, formed  the  mainstay  of  the  national  party, 
and  united  with  the    Herodians   in   the   common 


SOCIETY   IN   THE   TETRARCIIIES.  4 1 

object  of  expelling  the  Romans  from  the  Holy 
Land.  The  Sadducces,  whose  materialistic  indiffer- 
ence to  the  future  was  consistent  only  with  the 
enjoyment  of  temporal  prosperity,  supported  the 
great  priestly  family  which  belonged  to  their  sect. 
Of  the  Zealots,  whose  unconquerable  aversion  to 
all  human  rulers  led  half  a  century  later  to  the 
great  national  catastrophe,  few  ventured  then  to 
show  their  faces  so  near  to  the  seat  of  Roman 
government ;  while  the  humble  and  submissive 
character  of  the  Hasaya,  though  rendering  them  less 
obnoxious  as  a  sect  to  the  ruling  power,  led  to 
their  retreat  from  mankind  into  the  desert,  and 
made  the  appearance  of  the  white  robe  of  the 
order  a  rare  occurrence  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem. 
Shut  out  from  power,  and  from  the  duties  of  the 
Pontificate,  the  Pharisees  had  abundant  leisure  for 
the  one  study  known  to  the  Jew — the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Law  of  Moses.  It  was  little  more  than 
half  a  century  since  the  famous  Hillel  had  come 
from  Babylonia  to  Jerusalem.  By  descent  a  Benja- 
mite,  and  on  his  mother's  side  claiming  to  trace 
back  to  the  house  of  David,  he  was  educated  by 
Shemaiah  and  Abtalyon,  and  manifested  in  a  few 
years  his  superiority  to  all  their  other  disciples  in 
the  treatment  of  the  delicate  question  whether  the 
Paschal  lamb  might  be  slain  on  the  Sabbath.    For 


42  RABBI   JESHUA. 

twenty  years  he  held  the  position  of  Prince  of  the 
Sanhedrim,  and  died  only  a  few  years  before  Rabbi 
Jeshua  was  born. 

With  Hillel  commenced  the  systematic  study  of 
the  written  and  of  the  traditional  Law.  The 
disputations  between  his  school  and  that  of  his 
contentious  disciple,  Shammai,  led  to  so  minute  a 
definition  of  many  precepts,  that  the  metaphysical 
subtlety  of  the  difference  renders  it  almost  invisible 
to  the  blunt  Western  mind  ;  but  however  bitter  the 
controversies  of  the  Beth-Din  might  be,  they 
passed  unnoticed  by  the  rulers  of  the  land,  for  the 
wise  counsel  of  their  master  was  followed  by  Hillel 
and  Shammai  alike,  "  Love  thy  work,  hate  do- 
minion, and  be  unknown  to  Government." 

The  love  of  grappling  with  abstruse  metaphysical 
problems,  and  the  habit  of  attaching  to  them  an 
importance  transcending  that  of  more  practical 
questions  of  life  and  morals,  appears  to  be  distinc- 
tive of  the  Semitic  mind. 

Amongst  the  Syrian  Christians  of  the  early  ages 
of  the  Church  first  arose  those  subtle  but  fierce 
controversies  which  make  up  the  history  of  the 
Christian  heresies.  Among  the  learned  doctors  of 
our  own  day,  the  subtleties  of  the  Koran  are  in  like 
manner  discussed.  Based  on  the  acceptation  of 
certain  documents  as  written  through  divine  inspir- 


SOCIETY  IN   THE  TETRARCIIIES.  43 

ation,  these  great  schools  alike  recognise  the  pos- 
sibility that  the  sound,  the  position,  the  choice  of 
every  word  and  letter  of  the  divine  commands, 
may  have  a  hidden  meaning  which  it  is  incumbent 
on  the  believer  to  search  out. 

Heresy  had  long  since  ceased  to  spread  in  the 
Holy  Land  in  the  days  of  Hillel.  The  Samaritans, 
it  is  true,  remained  impenitent  in  worshipping  at 
Gerizim,  and  in  awaiting  a  Messiah,  son  of 
Ephraim  ;  but  the  fatal  error  of  the  Egyptians  had 
been  purged  from  the  land.  No  teacher  in  Jerusa- 
lem sought  any  longer  to  explain  away  the  history 
of  Israel  and  the  commands  of  the  law  as  allegori- 
cal and  symbolic.  The  doctrines  of  the  Incarnate 
Word,  of  the  old  Adam,  of  the  Angel  of  the 
Presence,  the  mysteries  of  the  Cabbala,  and  the 
engrafting  of  heathen  philosophy  on  Jewish  ortho- 
doxy were  heresies  confined  to  the  renegades  of 
Alexandria.  The  attention  of  the  pious  was  con- 
centrated on  the  right  understanding  of  the  Law, 
and  on  the  building  up  of  "  hedges "  to  render 
transgression  impossible.  Freedom  of  conscience, 
security  from  persecution,  and  the  purification  of 
the  nation  from  heresy,  gave  leisure  for  the  settle- 
ment of  such  important  questions  as  that  of  the 
lawfulness  of  eating  an  egg  which  was  known  to 
have  been  laid  on  the  Sabbath. 


44  RABBI  JESHUA. 

If  the  Jews  were  right  in  their  fundamental 
doctrine,  such  discussion  was  the  logical  outcome 
of  sincere  desire  to  obey  the  divine  command.  If 
it  were  true  that  the  law  of  Moses  contained  the 
sum  total  of  possible  and  necessary  truth  for  man, 
then  we  should  do  wrong  to  underrate  the  import- 
ance of  those  questions  which  rabbinical  authori- 
ties raised  and  solved. 

But  if  we  must  believe  in  the  growth  of  the 
mind  of  man,  in  the  right  of  the  free  genius  of  a 
nation  to  shake  off  the  trammels  of  an  earlier 
faith,  and  of  laws  made  for  a  long  defunct  condi- 
tion of  civilisation,  the  self-torture  of  the  conscien- 
tious Jew  must  appear  to  our  eyes  a  miserable 
diversion  of  energy  and  intellectual  power  from 
noble  ends. 

The  study  of  the  Law  formed  the  sum  total  of 
education.  Man  was  as  yet  unconscious  of  the 
great  lessons  which  might  be  learned  in  the  con- 
templation of  the  "wonderful  works  of  God." 
That  by  the  accumulated  experience  and  observa- 
tion of  generations  great  secrets  might  be  laid 
bare,  great  principles  evolved  for  the  practical 
benefit  of  the  race  and  for  the  development  of 
human  power,  were  facts  which  had  scarcely  pre- 
sented themselves  to  the  minds  of  the  nations  then 
furthest  advanced  in  knowledge  :   facts  to  which 


SOCIETY   IN   THE   TETRARCIIIES.  45 

the    Jew    in    the    self-conceit   of    ignorance    was 
supremely  indifferent. 

If,  for  instance,  we  think  of  medicine  as  the  most 
necessary  of  the  sciences,  how  absolutely  was  any 
knowledge  of  the  art  unknown  to  the  Jew,  Herod's 
doctors  immersed  the  diseased  monarch  in  a  vessel 
of  warm  oil  as  a  cure  for  his  complicated  maladies. 
For  palsy,  rheumatism,  and  nervous  pain,  the  Jew 
then  as  in  our  own  times  bathed  in  the  inter- 
mittent pool  which  rises  in  the  Kedron  valley,  or 
travelled  to  the  baths  of  Callirrhoe,  or  Tiberias. 
For  tooth-ache  he  carried  pepper  in  his  mouth,  for 
ear-ache  the  egg  of  a  locust  was  a  cure,  for  sleep- 
lessness the  tooth  of  a  living  fox,  for  hydrophobia 
the  skin  of  a  male  adder,  for  ague  the  nails  from 
the  cross  of  a  malefactor. 

In  spite  of  the  long  captivity  in  Babylon,  the 
Jews  never  learned  the  science  of  astronomy  which 
their  captors  had  prosecuted  since  the  days  of 
Abraham.  They  still  watched  the  new  moon  for 
the  calculation  of  their  months;  they  still  condemned 
to  eternal  punishment  the  man  who  studied  Greek 
philosophy. 

Had  such  devotion  to  the  study  of  the  Law  been 
accompanied  by  any  remarkable  moral  elevation 
of  character,  the  prejudice  against  other  and 
more  useful  subjects  of  research  might  have  been 


46  RABBI  JESHUA. 

pardonable ;  but  such  evidence  as  we  have  goes 
rather  to  prove  that  the  immorahty  of  the  great 
Greek  age  was  purer  than  the  organised  and 
permitted  uncleanhness  of  the  devout  Jew.  The 
narrow  jealousies,  the  insane  conceit,  the  cynical 
scepticism  of  rabbinical  teachers  must  be  con- 
trasted with  the  rude  nobility  of  the  Northern 
nations  whose  pretensions  to  holiness  were  so 
much  less  arrogant.  "There  is  no  blessing,"  says 
the  Mishna,  "  at  food,  for  women,  slaves,  and 
children."  /*  Whoever  converses  much  with 
women,"  says  Rabbi  Joseh,  "  brings  evil  on  himself, 
neglects  the  study  of  the  Law,  and  will  at  last 
inherit  hell."  With  such  an  estimate  of  the  in- 
fluence and  purity  of  their  helpmates,  what  wonder 
if  Jews  were  allowed  by  law  to  divorce  one 
woman  if  another  was  more  pleasing  in  their  eyes. 
Self-concentrated  and  self-content,  the  student 
of  the  Law  was  enjoined  to  pass  his  life  in  the 
contemplation  of  his  own  salvation.  He  was,  in 
the  words  of  the  Mishna,  to  pursue  his  research, 
"with  study,  diligence,  and  eloquence  ;  with  an 
understanding  and  intelligent  heart,  with  dread 
and  meekness,  fear  and  joy,  with  attendance  on 
the  wise,  with  the  aid  of  his  companions,  through 
disputation  with  disciples,  with  soberness,  with 
study  of  the  Torah  and  of  the  Mishna,  in  purity 


SOCIETY   IN   THE  TETRARCHIES.  47 

with  little  sleep,  with  little  talk,  with  little  work, 
little  sport,  little  pleasure,  and  little  intercourse 
with  the  world ;  with  slowness  to  anger,  a  good 
heart,  confidence  in  the  wise,  and  patience  in 
chastisement,  knowing  his  station,  and  rejoicing  in 
his  lot."  Such  is  the  character  of  the  Jewish 
student,  as  sketched  by  the  masters  under  whom 
he  learned. 

But  what  of  those  who  had  no  leisure  for  such 
study,  who  could  not  leave  their  fields  and  their 
flocks,  who  could  not  pay  the  fee  which  admitted 
them  to  the  college  ?  Was  there  any  provision  for 
teaching  to  them  the  lessons  of  righteousness 
and  of  morality  to  be  found  in  the  Law,  or  any 
communion  between  the  pious  and  the  poor  ? 

"  No  boor,"  said  Rabbi  Gamaliel,  "can  be  fearful 
of  sin  ;  nor  can  a  peasant  be  a  saint  ;  neither  will 
he  who  is  engaged  in  traffic  become  wise,"  Those 
who  knew  not  the  Law  were  no  better  than  the 
beasts  that  perish  ;  yet  we  find  no  saying  of  the 
wise  which  inculcates  the  teaching  of  the  poor, 
or  the  instruction  of  the  ignorant  peasant.  It  was 
thus  that  the  broad  line  of  separation  between 
class  and  class  was  drawn,  and  it  was  in  this  lack 
of  sympathy  that  the  real  weakness  of  the  nation 
consisted. 

In  every  town  there  was  a  synagogue;  to  every 


48  RABBI  JESHUA. 

synagogue  a  school  was  attached.  From  each 
town  a  representative  congregation  accompanied 
the  order  of  the  priests  in  due  turn  to  Jerusalem. 
But  these  were  the  duties  and  privileges  of  the 
rich  and  the  learned,  of  those  who  knew  the  Law. 
Piety  and  good  breeding  go  together  in  the  East, 
and  the  poor  are  as  little  concerned  with  one  as 
with  the  other. 

We  thus  become  aware  that  the  religion  of 
Jerusalem  was  not  the  faith  of  the  mass  of  the 
common  people.  Only  forty-two  thousand  Jews 
U  .ny^  returned  with  Ezra  from  captivity,  and  we  may 
well  doubt  if  the  majority  of  the  nation  in  the 
days  when  the  country  was  so  thickly  populated 
were  Jews  at  all.  Their  tongue  was  that  of  the 
Canaanite,  their  worship  was  that  of  the  high 
places ;  and,  save  through  the  medium  of  a  trans- 
lation, the  scriptures  were  unintelligible  to  the 
peasantry.  The  altars  of  local  deities  still  stood 
(and  still  stand)  on  the  mountain  tops  in  Palestine ; 
the  shady  trees  and  groves  of  the  aboriginal  cultus 
were  still  preserved ;  the  stone  heaps  of  Mercury 
were  still  built  up,  the  mourning  for  Tammuz 
still  annually  observed  in  Bethlehem.  Thus  by 
religion,  by  language,  and  by  race,  the  peasant  was 
P  separated  irrevocably  from   the  richer   student  in 


SOCIETY   IN   THE   TETRARCHIES.  49 

Taxed  by  the  Roman  and  by  the  priest,  op- 
pressed by  the  soldiery,  despised  by  his  fellows, 
the  poor  tiller  of  the  soil  spent  his  days  in  a 
ceaseless  round  of  toil,  uncheered  by  the  prospect 
of  any  brighter  future  in  this  world.  In  the 
miserable  hamlets  of  the  plains,  fever  and  dy- 
sentery, cholera  and  spleen  swept  off  their  victims 
year  by  year,  and  none  were  found  to  minister  to 
the  poor,  or  to  alleviate  their  sufferings  by  counsel 
and  compassion.  The  practice  of  a  charity  which 
even  now,  as  of  old,  pauperises  half  the  nation  was 
the  nearest  approach  to  philanthropy  known  to 
the  Jew  ;  but  the  broad  principles  of  the  Mishna 
manifest  the  want  of  sympathy  between  great 
and  small,  when  they  lay  down  that  all  ass-drivers 
are  wicked,  all  camel-drivers  honest,  all  pigeon- 
fanciers  liars,  and  all  physicians  destined  for  hell. 

Yet  over  the  poor  and  ignorant,  the  doctrines  of 
the  Pharisee  held  an  important  influence.  The 
love  of  v/onder  is  innate  in  the  mind  of  the  un- 
taught, and  the  marvels  which  the  teachers  of  the 
people  described  sunk  deep  into  the  hearts  of  the 
unhappy.  There  was  going  to  be  a  new  earth,  a 
new  Jerusalem,  a  new  age  of  glory  and  triumph. 
The  miseries  of  the  faithful  were  to  be  compensated 
by  long  life,  plentiful  harvests  and  vintages,  in- 
numerable wives  and  children.       The  great  feast 

E 


50  RACBI  JESHUA. 

was  to  be  some  day  spread  on  the  mountains,  and 
the  judgment  of  the  heathen  to  be  pronounced. 

Meantime,  beneath  the  earth  in  the  gloomy- 
caverns  of  Sheol  the  souls  of  just  and  unjust 
awaited  the  immediate  future.  In  Abraham's 
bosom  slept  the  faithful  and  elect ;  in  the  burning 
lake  the  wicked  writhed  in  hopeless  expectation  of 
a  similar  but  eternal  future.  And,  mingled  with 
such  hopes  and  such  fears,  the  old  superstitions 
still  flourished :  the  queen  of  heaven  was  still 
honoured  in  the  wild  districts  of  the  hills,  and  the 
children  still  passed  through  the  fire  to  Moloch  in 
the  obscure  and  outlying  villages. 

This,  then,  if  we  have  read  aright  the  scattered 
indications  of  contemporary  history,  was  the  con- 
dition of  the  land  when  the  career  of  Rabbi  Jeshua 
opened.  The  power  of  Rome  was  established 
peacefully,  but  the  civilisation  of  the  West  had 
failed  to  influence  the  mass  of  the  nation  in  the 
Syrian  province.  The  feeble  reflex  of  that  civilisa- 
tion might  be  found  in  the  tone  and  manners  of 
the  Idumean  court ;  but  the  thoughts  and  actions 
of  the  nation  were  more  deeply  influenced  by  the 
priestly  caste  at  Jerusalem.  In  the  far  mountains 
of  Galilee  the  germ  of  future  rebellion  was  grow- 
ing up  among  the  turbulent  Zealots.  In  the 
deserts  of  Jordan  the  monastic    spirit  developed 


SOCIETY   IN   THE   TETRARCMIES.  51 

among  the  Hasaya  and  the  Abionim.  The  people 
of  the  land  toiled  uncared  for  and  unpitied.  Yet 
there  Mas  one  passionate  longing  which  still  united 
the  nation,  and  it  is  to  this  hope  of  the  people  that 
our  attention  must  now  for  a  moment  be  directed. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   HOPE   OF   THE   PEOPLE. 

Sleeping  champions — The  origin  of  the  idea — Types — The 
return  of  Ehjah — The  heir  to  David — His  character — 
Birth  pangs  of  the  Messiah — The  Gentiles — The  new 
earth — Dante's  prototype — Later  views  as  to  the  Messiah. 

In  the  dark  vault  at  Kronenburg,  with  his  arm 
beneath  his  head,  clad  in  iron  and  steel,  and  his 
great  beard  grown  through  the  table,  sleeps  Holger 
Danske,  waiting  the  day  of  Denmark's  greatest 
need. 

In  the  enchanted  island  of  Avilion,  where  never 
wind  blows  loudly,  rests  the  wounded  Arthur, 
whose  return  England  no  longer  expects. 

In  the  hall  of  his  palace  Frederic  the  Red  Beard 
awaits  likewise  the  call  of  his  country.  In  Russia 
it  is  Ivan  the  Terrible  who  will  return  to  chastise 
the  boyar  and  help  the  serf.  In  Islam  it  is  the 
twelfth  Imam. 

In  Judah  it  was,  and  is,  the  Messiah. 


THE   HOPE   OF   THE   PEOPLE.  53 

What  is  the  meaning  of  this  constant  tradition 
among  races  so  distinct  in  character  and  feelings  ? 
and  what  is  the  lesson  that  may  thence  be  drawn  ? 

The  lesson  is  this,  that  however  much  we  may- 
write  or  speak  of  the  "  people  "  and  the  "  nation," 
it  is  by  the  great  men  of  the  nation  that  its  history 
is  made,  and  in  the  heroes  of  the  people  that  the 
hope  of  the  future  is  found. 

To  all  of  us  the  present  seems  to  be  the  worst 
time.  The  future  is  full  of  hopes,  the  trials  of  the 
past  are  half  forgotten.  We  stand  on  a  stony  and 
thorny  foreground,  we  look  back  or  forwards  to  a 
distant  scene  whose  harsher  features  are  blended 
by  the  intervening  haze.  The  thorns  and  the 
stones  are  as  many  in  the  distance  as  are  those 
beneath  our  feet ;  but  they  are  no  longer  seen,  and 
only  the  grander  features  of  the  distant  landscape 
are  visible  to  our  eyes. 

Such  also  is  the  national  memory  of  a  glorious 
history,  the  popular  hope  for  a  more  glorious 
future.  It  is  the  return  of  the  past  that  is  eagerly 
longed  for — the  reappearance  of  the  great  men 
whose  greatness  was  perhaps  recognized  only  after 
death.  Woe  to  the  nation  which  has  no  such 
dreams  of  the  future  and  no  such  discontent  with 
the  actual  present ! 

The  expectation  of  an  awakened  champion  must 


54  RABBI  JESIIUA. 

in  past  times,  when  men  really  believed  in  and 
hoped  for  such  things,  have  been  most  vivid  and 
earnest  in  times  of  national  depression  and  trouble. 
Thus  it  was  with  the  Jews.  Tacitus  tells  of  a  time 
when  they  were  ruled  by  native  kings,  "  because  the 
Macedonians  had  become  weak,  and  the  Parthians 
were  not  yet  very  powerful,  and  the  Romans  were 
very  remote."  Yet  this  great  opportunity  passed 
away  without  profit  to  the  chosen  people.  The 
Hasmonean  power  was  lost  in  the  corruption  of 
that  great  house,  the  strength  of  the  nation  was 
dissipated  by  the  quarrels  of  its  factions,  the 
chance  of  attaining  a  position  of  political  import- 
ance in  Western  Asia  was  for  ever  lost. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  idea  of  an  Anointed 

Prince   first   developed    among    the    disappointed 

y     r   patriots  of  Jerusalem.     If  we  look  earlier  in  their 

^  /^  fl^:     history  we  find   no  such   hope   expressed  ;  if  we 

eitcfl.  ^f<o^-  glance  lower  down  the  page  the  idea  rapidly  gains 

vSL^  .         in  mtensity  and  importance. 

When  Judas  Maccabeus  rose  as  a  sledge-hammer 
to  break  down  the  bondage  of  the  Seleucidae,  he 
laid  no  claim  to  the  office  of  Messiah.  His  brethren 
were  consecrated  as  princes  and  priests  until  a 
faithful  prophet  should  arise  to  direct  the  destinies 
of  the  nation  ;  and  the  honesty  of  purpose  and  of 
thought  among  the  simple  patriots  whose  valour 


THE    HOPE  OF  THE  PEOPLE.  55 

saved  the  Jewish  faith  from  extinction  is  evidenced 
by  the  fact  that  no  fictitious  claims  to  prophetic 
power  were  advanced  by  them. 

We  have  perhaps  but  a  vague  idea  of  the  views 
which  were  common  among  the  Jews  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Messiah,  To  us  the  word  implies  an 
expected  supernatural  monarch  whose  advent  is 
yet  awaited  by  the  chosen  people.  Yet  there  were 
many  Messiahs,  past  and  future,  among  the  Jews. 
The  high  priest  was  a  Messiah,  "anointed"  with 
the  holy  oil  which  consecrated  Aaron.  The  priest 
who  went  out  to  battle  was  the  Messiah  for  war. 
The  king  was  the  Messiah-Neged,  or  anointed  chief 
In  the  Targums  we  have  two  future  Messiahs  pre- 
dicted— the  son  of  Judah,  and  the  son  of  Ephraim. 
Among  all  these  it  is  to  the  expectation  of  a 
future  King  of  the  house  of  David  that  we  are 
accustomed  to  confine  the  meaning  of  the  term 
Messiah. 

Correct  ideas  of  the  Jewish  expectation  of  such 
a  future  prince  may  be  derived  from  the  early 
Apocalyptic  literature,  from  the  Talmud  and  from 
the  Targums,  rather  than  from  the  passages  in  the 
Scriptures  which  form  the  text  of  these  extended 
commentaries.  The  Book  of  Enoch,  the  third 
Sibylline  book,  the  fourth  of  Ezra,  the  Psalms  of 
Solomon,  belong  to  the  period  under  consideration, 


56  RABBI  JESHUA. 

and  in  these  we  find  the  idea  of  the  future  King 
gradually  developed.  In  the  Targums  we  trace 
the  subtle  casuistry  whereby  the  great  theory  was 
elaborated  from  original  utterances  having  appa- 
rently no  connection  with  the  subject.  In  the 
Bible  we  find  only  Cyrus  called  Messiah,  in  the 
Targums  we  count  no  less  than  seventy  passages 
where  the  word  and  the  idea  are  interpolated. 

At  the  basis  of  the  whole  of  this  wonderful 
structure  of  passionate  hope  and  faith,  lies  the  idea 
of  a  hidden  and  more  elevated  meaning,  to  be 
attributed  to  the  words  of  writers  to  whom  perhaps 
no  such  idea  was  ever  present.  It  is  the  same 
tendency  which  has  converted  the  touching  and 
simple  stories  of  the  Iliad  into  great  myths  of  the 
aspirations  of  the  soul,  and  of  the  phenomena  of 
nature.  It  was  in  the  same  spirit  that  Philo  ex- 
plained away  the  history  of  Moses.  It  is  in  the 
same  spirit  that  we  apply  the  denunciations  of 
Gog  and  Magog  to  the  Russian  devastators  of  our 
own  days. 

Once  admit  that  the  words  written  may  have  a 
meaning  other  than  that  which  meets  the  eye,  and 
this  extension  of  ancient  prophecies,  this  amplifica- 
tion of  ancient  poetry  into  a  forecast  of  a  great 
future,  may  be  carried  on  century  after  century  for 
an  unending  duration.     Once  create  the  idea  of  a 


THE   HOPE   OF   THE   PEOPLE.  57 

"  type,"  and  the  final  facts  typified  will  change  as 
generation  succeeds  generation. 

Is  it  not  thus  that  from  the  poetic  declamations 
of  the  Hebrew  prophets  the  idea  of  the  future  King 
was  evolved  ?  On  what  authority  does  the  Tar- 
gum  see  typified  in  the  Exodus  the  going  forth  of 
Messiah  from  Rome  ?  For  what  reason  should  the 
blessings  invoked  on  Cyrus  be  transferred  to  a 
future  prince  ?  Have  we  not  also  in  our  own  times 
seen  the  names  of  Antichrist  and  the  beast  applied, 
in  one  generation  to  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  and  in 
the  next,  with  equal  certainty,  to  Napoleon  HI. .-' 
Nay,  what  great  ruler  from  the  time  of  Julian 
downwards  escaped  this  imputation,  if  he  once 
placed  himself  in  conflict  with  the  Church  .-'  It 
is  from  the  Jews  that  this  habit  of  referring  the 
poetry  of  the  past  to  the  hope  of  the  immediate 
future  has  been  derived :  it  is  on  the  fanciful 
extension  of  the  scope  of  ancient  aspirations  that 
the  whole  theory  of  a  Messiah  rests.  It  is  in  the 
same  spirit  that  Josephus  sees  the  prophecies  of 
Daniel  twice  fulfilled,  once  in  the  desolation  caused 
by  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  and  again  'in  the  final 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Romans. 

The  earliest  orthodox  idea  of  a  future  leader 
seems  to  have  been  that  of  a  prophet  rather  than 
a  king.     It  is  to  such  a  belief  that  the  writer  of  the 


S8  RABBI  JESIIUA. 

Book  of  Maccabees  so  often  refers,  and  we  at  once 
discern  a  foundation  for  such  an  expectation  in  the 
promise  of  a  prophet  "  Hke  unto"  Moses,  which  is 
S'ill  devoutly  believed  by  the  Samaritans  at 
Shechem. 

In  the  book  of  Malachi,  the  contemporary  of 
Nehemiah,  closing  the  prophetic  canon  of  the 
Jewish  Scriptures,  we  find,  this  expectation  de- 
veloped into  the  idea  of  the  return  of  Elijah,  pre- 
ceding the  impending  day  of  judgment ;  and  such 
a  belief  once  implanted  in  the  Jewish  mind  could 
never  again  be  rooted  out. 

But  with  the  decadence  of  the  great  Hasmonean 
house,  the  hope  of  the  future  began  to  centre  chiefly 
round  the  restoration  of  the  family  of  David  to 
the  throne  of  Israel. 

There  was  no  difficulty  in  finding  allusions  to 
the  restored  glories  of  the  ancient  royal  family 
in  the  books  of  the  earlier  prophets  ;  and  when 
once  the  pious  students  who  led  the  thought  of  the 
day  had  convinced  themselves  that  these  passages 
referred  not  to  the  past,  but  to  the  future,  the 
promises  therein  contained  became  the  definite  and 
immediate  hope  of  the  nation. 

The  King  Messiah  then  was  to  be  an  actual 
and  earthly  monarch,  born  at  Bethlehem  of  Judah, 
of  the  lineage  of  David,  and  reigning  in  Jerusalem 


THE   HOPE   OF   THE   PEOPLE.  59 

The  earlier  expectation  of  a  coming  prophet  was 
reconciled  with  this  newly-born  hope,  through  the 
explanation  that  Elijah  should  precede  the  King  as  a 
forerunner.  Some  who  held  that  the  resurrection  pre- 
ceded the  reign  of  Messiah  believed  that  the  prophet 
should  first  return  to  raise  the  dead,  and  should  sub- 
sequently anoint  the  awaited  prince.  Others  said 
that  Moses  also  should  be  reincarnate,  and  attend 
the  Messiah  at  his  coming.  Others  again  believed, 
as  do  the  modern  Samaritans,  that  the  Anointed 
One  would  remain  concealed  and  unknown  among 
men  for  a  season,  before  his  manifestation. 

The  portrait  of  the  expected  Monarch,  as  drawn 
in  the  so-called  Psalms  of  Solomon,  expresses  the 
conception,  at  the  time  of  our  history,  of  the  future 
hope  of  Israel. 

"A  righteous  King,  Son  of  David,  taught  by 
God,  and  anointed  by  Jehovah !  He  will  not  place 
his  trust  in  his  horse  or  his  bow,  nor  multiply  silver 
or  gold  for  war,  for  his  hope  is  in  God,  and  he  shall 
smite  the  earth  with  the  word  of  his  mouth.  Pure 
from  sin,  strong  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  wise  in  counsel 
and  great  in  righteousness,  mighty  in  the  fear  of 
God,  he  shall  feed  the  Lord's  flock  in  faith  and 
truth  and  lead  them  to  holiness.  This  is  the  beauty 
of  the  King  of  Israel !  his  words  are  as  the  words 
of  the  just  in  the  midst  of  an  holy  people." 


6o  RABBI  JESHUA. 

There  was  nothing  superhuman  in  the  character 
of  the  Prince  thus  awaited,  nothing  supernatural 
in  the  expected  revelation  of  the  heir  to  David. 
His  reign  was  to  be  that  of  an  earthly  monarch,  his 
kingdom  that  of  Solomon  in  his  glory.  That  he 
should  rule  the  whole  earth  might  appear  easily 
credible  to  those  who  knew  so  little  how  far  beyond 
the  limits  of  Dan  and  Beersheba  the  world  extended. 
The  more  transcendental  of  the  doctors  who  dis- 
cussed the  subject,  did  indeed  suppose  that  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  probably  the  renova- 
tion of  the  world,  would  precede  the  coming  of 
Messiah  ;  but  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth 
were  to  be  but  glorified  repetitions  of  the  former, 
and  the  new  Jerusalem  a  city  of  real  stones 
founded  on  the  actual  hills  of  the  same  mountain 
region.  The  spiritual  conception  of  a  heavenly 
city  built  of  jewels  and  floating  above  the  earth 
of  a  paradise  inhabited  by  angels,  and  of  a  fiery 
Gehenna,  belonged  to  mystic  schools  of  Alexandria 
rather  than  to  the  teaching  of  the  rabbis  of 
Jerusalem  before  the  destruction  of  the  city  by  the 
Romans. 

A  period  of  trouble  was  commonly  expected  to 
precede  the  glorious  reign  of  the  future  King,  "  the 
birth  pangs  of  the  Messiah,"  as  the  Talmud  calls  it. 
"  In   the   footprints    of    the    Anointed,"   says  the 


THE    HOPE   OF   THE    PEOPLE.  6 1 

Mishna,  "  impudence  shall  increase,  and  there  shall 
be  scarcity.  The  vine  shall  give  fruit,  but  wine 
shall  be  dear ;  the  dominion  shall  be  given  to 
heretics,  and  there  shall  be  no  reproof.  Tiic 
\vi  dom  of  the  scribes  shall  stink,  and  those  who 
fear  sin  shall  be  despised,  and  truth  shall  fail 
I)cys  shall  make  the  face  of  the  old  men  pale,  the 
ancijnt  shall  rise  up  before  the  young.  The  son 
shall  evil  entreat  his  father,  the  daughter  shall  rise 
up  against  her  mother,  and  the  daughter-in-law 
against  her  mother-in-law,  and  a  man's  foes  shall 
be  they  of  his  own  household.  The  face  of  that 
generation  shall  be  as  the  face  of  a  dog.  In  whom 
then  shall  we  trust }  In  our  Father  which  is  in 
heaven."  War,  famine,  earthquake,  anarchy,  and 
corruption  must  precede  the  final  glory  of  the 
revealed  Messiah — such  is  the  burden  of  each 
book  which  recounts  the  expectancy  of  the  cen- 
tury that  elapsed  before  the  destruction  of  the 
Holy  City. 

The  time  of  the  coming  of  Messiah  w^as  not 
definitely  fixed  by  Jewish  writers.  The  seventy 
years  of  Jeremiah's  prophecy,  and  the  seven  times 
seventy  of  Daniel  passed  by,  and  still  he  came  not. 
The  pious  ceased  to  count  the  years,  and  fell  back 
on  the  hope  that  penitence  and  prayer  might 
hasten  his    advent.      "  Three   things,"   said   Rabbi 


62  RABBI   JESIIUA. 

Zera,  *'  come  unexpectedly — the  Messiah,  a  treasure 
find,  and  a  scorpion  ! "  For  the  sins  of  Israel  the 
Messiah  was  concealed,  and  some  teachers  even 
ventured  to  say  that  if  Israel  did  not  repent  the 
Messiah  might  never  come  at  all. 

The  gathering  of  foreign  foes  round  the  Faithful, 
and  the  destruction  of  the  Holy  City  were 
expected,  as  signs  of  the  end,  long  before  Jerusalem 
was  laid  low  by  the  Romans.  The  memory  of  the 
cruel  devastations  of  Zion  by  the  Seleucidae,  and  the 
announcement  that  "the  Prince  that  shall  come  shall 
destroy  the  city  and  the  sanctuary,  and  the  end 
thereof  shall  be  with  a  flood,"  were  no  doubt  the 
parent  ideas  of  this  expectation  of  a  time  of  trouble 
for  the  righteous.  The  poetic  account  of  an  inva- 
sion of  Syria  by  the  peoples  of  Asia  Minor  and 
Armenia,  with  the  Scythians,  the  Persians,  and  the 
Egyptians  as  allies,  was  in  like  manner  transferred 
to  an  uncertain  future,  and  formed  the  foundation 
of  the  rabbinical  fables  of  the  defeat  of  Gog  and 
Magog  by  the  Messiah.  But  the  most  beautiful  of 
the  descriptions  of  this  great  battle  of  the  future  is 
perhaps  that  to  be  found  in  the  third  Sibylline 
book,  written  about  two  centuries  before  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus. 

"The  fruitful    earth   shall   be   shaken   in   those 
days,"  says  the  Sibyl,  "  by  the  eternal  hand ;  the 


THE   HOPE   OF   THE   PEOPLE.  63 

fish  of  the  sea,  the  beasts  of  the  earth,  the  innu- 
merable tribes  of  fowl,  and  all  the  souls  of  men, 
shall  quake  with  dread  before  the  everlasting  face, 
and  fear  shall  be  upon  them.  He  shall  break  the 
high  peaks,  the  tops  of  great  mountains  ;  and  dark 
night  shall  be  upon  all.  And  the  cloudy  valleys  in 
the  high  hills  shall  be  full  of  the  dead,  and  the 
rocks  shall  run  with  blood,  and  the  stream  shall 
flow  to  the  plain — and  the  earth  shall  drink  the 
blood  of  the  slain,  and  the  wild  beasts  shall  feast 
on  their  flesh." 

To  such  troubles  the  reign  of  Messiah  formed 
the  bright  contrast  which  was  to  follow.  The 
tribes  of  Israel  should  be  gathered  in  ;  the  city 
should  be  rebuilt;  peace,  truth,  happiness,  and 
prosperity  would  follow  the  rule  of  the  righteous 
King. 

But  even  here  a  difference  of  opinion  arose 
among  the  doctors  as  to  the  fate  of  the  Gentiles. 
The  gentle  Hillcl  looked  forward  to  their  conver- 
sion, and  submission  to  the  great  Monarch  ruling 
in  Jerusalem.  The  fierce  Shammai  condemned  the 
enemies  of  the  nation,  and  all  who  were  not  of 
the  chosen  race,  to  death  and  final  annihilation. 
Perhaps  on  the  whole  the  balance  of  opinion  was, 
however,  in  favour  of  the  belief  that  until  the  time 
of  the  final  judgment  the  Gentiles,  subjected  and 


64  Rx\I5BI  JESHUA. 

converted,  might  be  allowed  to  share  In  the 
felicity  of  the  kingdom  as  servants  and  serfs  of  the 
Jews.  "  Strangers  shall  stand  and  feed  your  flocks, 
and  the  sons  of  the  alien  shall  be  your  plowmen 
and  vine-dressers,"  says  the  prophet.  Of  the 
glories  of  the  future  time  of  peace  the  Sibyl,  no 
less  than  the  latest  rabbinic  writers,  gives  an 
enthusiastic  account : 

"The  fruitful  earth  shall  give  to  men  in  great 
store  the  choicest  harvest  of  corn  and  wine  and 
oil  ;  and  from  heaven  shall  drop  honey,  and  foun- 
tains of  milk  shall  spring  forth.  And  the  city  and 
the  field  shall  be  full  of  good  things  ;  and  there 
shall  be  no  more  war  nor  drought  upon  the  earth, 
nor  famine,  nor  hail  to  spoil  the  fruits." 

It  was  not  indeed  commonly  believed  that  this 
peaceful  reign  should  endure  for  ever.  The 
Messiah  was  mortal,  and,  with  few  exceptions,  the 
doctors  agreed  that  his  advent  would  precede  the 
great  judgment  day,  which  was  to  terminate  the 
earth's  history  after  a  period  of  five  thousand 
years  from  Adam. 

Perhaps  among  the  works  of  poetic  genius  there 
is  none  v/hich  we  regard  as  more  original  and 
daring  in  conception  than  the  divine  drama  of 
Dante  ;  yet,  as  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun, 
so  in  the  vision  of  Enoch,  composed  by  a  Jewish 


THE   HOPE   OF   THE   PEOPLE.  65 

poet  a  century  and  a  half  before  the  fall  of  Jerusa- 
lem, we  find  the  very  prototype  of  that  great  epic 
of  Christian  Italy.  The  imagery  of  gloomy  moun- 
tain chains,  of  luxuriant  meadows,  of  fiery  lakes,  of 
angel  guides  to  the  mortal  pilgrim,  find  an  origin 
in  the  Jewish  epic.  It  is  true  that  a  distinctive 
Jewish  tone  pervades  the  Book  of  Enoch,  and  that 
the  Italian  genius  created  a  gigantic  Satan  who 
has  no  prototype  in  the  Gehenna  of  the  original  ; 
but,  with  this  exception,  the  imagination  of  the 
chosen  people  is  responsible  for  that  stupendous 
fabric  of  fear  and  of  hope  which  Christianity  in- 
herits. 

Such  was  the  great  catastrophe  of  the  expected 
future ;  but  it  is  important  to  note  that  the  reign  of 
Messiah  was  to  precede  the  judgment-day,  for  in 
this  lies  the  distinction  between  the  doctrine  of 
the  earlier  centuries  and  the  more  transcendental 
teaching  of  later  ages,  when  the  kingdom  was 
pictured  as  a  spiritual  reign  of  immortal  saints  in  a 
heavenly  Jerusalem.  With  the  views  of  this  later 
school,  as  exemplified  in  Jewish  writings  of  the 
early  Christian  centuries,  we  are  not  now  concerned. 
The  grotesque  exaggerations  of  the  Gemara,  the 
allegories  of  Philo,  the  fables  of  the  Cabbalists,  may 
tempt  the  student  by  their  quaint  fancies  and 
poetic  conceptions ;  but  if  we  confine  ourselves  to 

F 


66  RABBI   JESHUA. 

the  consideration  of  the  original  idea  of  the  King- 
dom of  Messiah  as  expressed  in  the  Jewish  Htera- 
ture  of  the  Herodian  ages,  we  find  ourselves  in 
contemplation  of  a  far  more  material  and  practical 
expectation — of  the  ardent  hope  for  the  restoration 
of  the  national  monarchy,  and  for  the  triumphant 
vindication  of  the  truth  of  the  Jewish  faith  in  the 
sight  of  the  Gentiles. 

That  Messiah  when  he  came  should  be  rejected 
by  the  nation  was  an  idea  so  at  variance  with  the 
very  nature  of  their  conception  of  the  future  which 
was  immediately  expected  as  to  be  practically  an 
impossibility  to  the  devout  Jew.  That  a  resurrec- 
tion must  precede  the  foundation  of  his  kingdom 
was  a  view  equally  incompatible  with  the  absence 
of  any  ideas  of  a  supernatural  character  attribu- 
table to  the  expected  Monarch. 

It  is  not  to  our  purpose  to  inquire  how  far  this 
conception  of  the  advent  of  an  Anointed  King  was 
justified  by  the  original  words  of  the  writers,  on 
whose  authority  it  claimed  to  rest.  Nor  are  we 
concerned  with  any  argument  as  to  the  greater 
credibility  of  those  transcendental  views  which  were 
gradually  developed  from,  and  substituted  for,  the 
dream  of  a  great  Hebrew  monarchy  having  its 
capital  in  Jerusalem.  To  understand  aright  the 
ideas  and  the  aspirations  of  the  contemporaries  of 


THE   HOPE  OF   THE   PEOPLE.  6/ 

Rabbi  Jeshua,  we  are  obliged  to  endeavour  to  com- 
prehend their  thoughts  as  to  the  national  future. 
And  while  we  cannot  fail  to  perceive  that  the 
Messiah  was  to  them  not  far  different  from  the 
awakened  champion  whose  coming  was  once  ex- 
pected by  so  many  of  the  Ayran  tribes,  we  are 
equally  made  aware  of  the  fact  that  no  Messiah 
such  as  the  Jews  expected  in  the  days  of  Rabbi 
Jeshua  has  ever  as  yet  appeared  to  rule  his  people. 
Never  have  the  chosen  race  rejected,  nor  could 
they  ever  reject,  such  a  King  as  they  expected. 
Created  by  the  pride,  the  faith,  the  devotion  of  the 
national  character,  nursed  by  the  woes  and  bitter 
miseries  of  their  history,  implanted  as  an  ineradi- 
cable longing  in  the  breasts  of  generation  after 
generation,  the  great  hope  has  endured  for  twenty 
centuries  among  the  scattered  outcasts  of  the  most 
wonderful  of  nations  ;  and  while  the  Jew  remains 
a  Jew,  even  to  the  end  of  time,  he  will  still  yearn 
for,  and  still  patiently  await  the  coming  of  the 
Messiah, 


CHAPTER  V. 

RABBI  JESHUA'S   LIFE. 

The  Lake  of  Kinnereth — The  fisherman — Rabbi  Jeshua's 
kith  and  kin — The  neglected  peasantry — Miracles — Re- 
markable cures — Influence  of  will — Messianic  claims — 
Sorcery — Rabbi  Jeshua's  disciples — Distrust  and  love — 
Ascetic  life  of  Rabbi  Jeshua — His  celibacy — Summary. 

Between  dark  precipitous  cliffs  which  are  mir- 
rored in  its  calm  blue  waves  the  little  lake  of 
Kinnereth  lies  shining  in  the  afternoon  sun.  On 
the  south  we  look  to  the  broad  vale  of  Jordan  ;  on 
the  east  to  the  white  walls  of  limestone,  where 
Gamala  stands  perched  on  its  camel-like  hummock, 
and  above  which  stretches  the  broad  plateau  of 
Bethania,  On  the  west,  in  the  shadow  of  the  great 
precipices,  stands  the  new  city  which  Antipas  has 
named  in  honour  of  Tiberius  ;  and  beyond  it,  in 
the  dim  distance,  the  walled  t9wn  of  Beth-Tarak 
projecting  into  the  lake.  Northwards  we  look 
towards  the  black  lava-fields  of  Caphar  Ahim,  and 
perceive   the   turbid   river  entering  the  lake  near 


RABBI  JESHUA'S   LIFE.  69 

the  village  newly  dubbed  with  the  name  Julias. 
Here  along  the  shelving  pebbly  beach  the  dark 
bushes  of  the  oleander  shine  with  their  rosy  blos- 
soms, and  tiny  bays  and  creeks  succeed  one 
another,  while  the  great  wall  of  the  Galilean  moun- 
tains towers  high  above  the  valley,  and  the  sacred 
town  of  Tziphoth  gleams  on  the  mountain  side. 

Close  to  the  brink  of  the  water  the  hamlet  of 
Capharnahum,  with  its  mud  cabins  and  its  little  ,-,  -•• 
new-built  synagogue,  spreads  beneath  the  low ,, '  /r  ;■' 
cliff,  where  the  Roman  guard-house  is  stationed 
beside  the  highway  ;  and  westwards  from  the  village 
the  rich  broad  plain  of  Kinnereth,  watered  by  the 
,  mountain  streams,  green  with  vines  and  fig-trees, 
and  waving  with  graceful  palms,  stretches  to  the 
olive  groves  above  Migdol,  and  to  the  great  blue 
fountain  beneath,  which  tradition  reported  to  run 
below  the  earth  from  the  fertile  Nile  itself  to  this 
favoured  paradise  of  the  "  Prince's  Garden," 

On  the  brink  of  the  lake  stands  a  stalwart  figure 
— a  brown  peasant,  stripped  to  the  waist,  and 
carrying  on  his  shoulder  a  basket  of  rushes.  His 
gaze  is  intently  fixed  on  the  shining  water,  where 
his  practised  eye  sees  the  shadowy  shoal  silently 
gliding  towards  him.  Crouching  like  a  tiger,  and 
stepping  daintily  into  the  rippling  waves,  he  ad- 
vances breast  high   into   the   sea,    and   with   one 


70  RABBI  JESHUA. 

sudden  effort  casts  from  his  arm  the  great  disk  of 
net,  which,  whirling  forward  for  a  few  yards,  sinks 
suddenly  with  a  splash  beneath  the  surface,  and 
catches  the  unwary  fish  under  the  dome-shaped 
cages  of  its  meshes.  Quickly  drawn  to  shore,  the 
white  sides  and  gleaming  scales  of  the  great  breams 
and  sheat-fish  glitter  in  the  sunlight  on  the  sand, 
and  the  small  are  divided  from  the  great,  the  clean 
from  the  unclean,  before  the  fisher  wanders  further 
along  the  shore  in  search  of  another  shoal. 

Such  was  the  scene  where  Rabbi  Jeshua's  days 
were  oftenest  spent,  such  were  the  men  of  his  kith 
and  kin  with  whom  he  lived  and  by  whom  he  was 
beloved.  From  the  fishes  of  that  sea,  from  the 
great  cast-nets,  from  the  storms  which  sweep  down 
the  mountain  gulleys  across  the  lake,  from  the 
fields,  the  flowers,  and  the  flocks  of  the  mountains 
between  which  it  lies  embosomed,  he  drew  the 
imagery  of  his  poetry,  and  the  fables  which  went 
to  the  hearts  of  his  simple  hearers. 
•3- "3^,  J»^<^Here  from  the  lips  of  the  village  priest  he_had 
r'lr*-*^  learned  his  first  lessons  in  the  Law  ;  here,  in  the 
loneliness  of  unsuspected  genius,  he  pondered  over 
the  thoughts  which  made  him  at  length  a  master 
in  Israel. 

To  this  mountain  lake  also  he  returned  from  the 
southern  deserts  to  which,  under  the  influence  of 


RABBI  JESnUA'S   LIFE.  /I 

Hanan  the  hermit,   he  had  for  a  time  retreated. 

Hanan  had  met  his  fate — decoyed  to  the  fortress 

of  Mekor.      The   great  throngs  which   had   been 

gathered  by  his  eloquence  into  the  Vale  of  Jordan 

were  no  longer  collected  by  the  river's  brink,  and    \   /     tJ 

Judea   no   longer  condescended  to   learn   from   a  ^-v^^i/nju/* 

prophet^of_GaHlee.    ^P*^    dcx..-.-^^^   ^..:..£jiU.K^^ 

Conscious  of  the  power  within  him,  of  genius 
chastened  by  ascetic  probation,  and  full  of  the 
great  message  which  there  was  none  now  left  to 
declare  to  men  since  Hanan  was  no  more,  Jeshua 
has  Saddik — once  the  learned  Rabbi,  but  now  the 
zealous  convert  of  the  Hasaya — returned  to  his  *~:  "^  ' 
native  land  to  take  upon  him  the  fallen  mantle  oi^^i^^^J 
his  master. 

Few  indeed  were  the  disciples  capable  of  un- 
derstanding the  great  mind  of  him  who  thus  came 
among  them.  A  degraded  race  of  Asiatic  Greeks 
— idolaters  and  despisers  of  the  chosen  people — 
were  to  be  found  in  the  newly  populated  cities  of 
Decapolis  and  at  Tiberias.  A  few  semi-heathen 
courtiers  of  Antipas,  a  rustic  rabbi  or  two,  repre- 
sented the  gentry  of  the  region.  It  was  not  among 
such  that  the  words  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  were  likely  to 
find  acceptance. 

Along  the  shores  of  the  sea,  in  their  mud  cabins 
and  huts  of  rushes,  the  poor  fishers  and  husband- 


72 


RABBI  JESHUA. 


5>«?W-A»./."^ 


men  of  Kinnereth  lived  uncared  for  and  untaught. 
Along  the  slopes  of  the  mountains  wandered  the 
herdsmen,  almost  as  brutish  as  their  charges,  their 
language  a  barbarous  dialect,  which  the  sarcastic 
citizen  of  Jerusalem  found  it  hard  to  understand. 
The  pestilence  of  marshy  fever  smote  them  in 
autumn  year  by  year ;  the  damps  of  winter  cramped 
their  limbs  with  palsy  ;  the  glare  of  the  white  rock 
blinded  their  eyes  with  ophthalmia  ;  the  sun  smote 
them  at  noonday,  and  the  moon  by  night  with 
madness,  which  they  believed  to  be  possession  by 
demons.  In  the  dry  places,  and  among  the  rocky 
cells  of  the  tombs,  they  wandered  in  their  fury,  half 
famished  and  naked.  No  man  cared  for  the  beasts 
of  the  people,  and  no  teacher  had  been  so  bold  as 
to  hope  for  an  immortality  of  happiness  for  their 
souls.  The  Pharisees  crowded  each  sabbath  in 
the  squalid  synagogues  of  the  villages  ;  but  on  the 
mountains,  and  beneath  the  shady  terebinths,  the 
y.AO^./'/ '  poor  bowed  down  in  ignorance  to  the  primeval 
powers  of  the  stars  in  heaven. 

Was  it  among  such  a  peasantry  that  the  great 
scholar,  the  poet,  the  devout  ascetic,  the  pure- 
minded  and  gentle  Rabbi  might  hope  to  find  a 
hearing  ?  True,  they  were  of  his  kith  and  kin 
these  fishers  and  humble  craftsmen  of  Galilee,  yet 
'y  in  education  and  in  genius  how  far  was  he  removed 


in 


RABBI  JESHUA'S   LIFE.  73 

from  them.  How  among  such  disciples  was  it 
possible  that  the  nobility  of  his  nature  and  the 
truth  of  his  perceptions  could  find  a  real  appreci- 
ation ? 

Nevertheless,  there  was  between  himself  and  his 
hearers  even  of  the  humblest  class  a  bond  which 
no  other  teacher  possessed.  There  was  a  secret 
spring  which  he  could  touch,  but  which  the  '  arned 
Pharisee  and  the  fanatical  ascetic  alike  i.  .  failed, 
or  had  not  cared  to  find. 

Rabbi  Jeshua  loved  the  people.  He  saw  in  his 
deep  pity  that  they  strayed  as  the  flocks  on  the 
mountains  whose  shepherd  was  slain  by  the  Arab 
robber ;  they  wandered  listlessly  as  the  fishes 
which  no  net  had  gathered  in  ;  they  grew  up  like 
the  tares  in  the  fields  where  the  enemy  alone 
gathers  his  harvest,  or  as  the  self-sown  grain  on 
the  housetops,  destined  to  be  hereafter  cast  into  the 
oven  of  Gehenna  ;  and  on  the  poor  of  the  land 
Rabbi  Jeshua  had  compassion. 

The  little  hamlet  of  Capharnahum  stretched 
along  the  flat  shore  almost  to  the  water's  edge, 
and  rose  on  the  side  of  the  great  knoll  to  the  east.  ^a 

The  mud  cabins  surrounded  the  little  rudely-built  o^  •/      '  ^ 
synagogue  of  stone,  with   its  whitewashed  dome  (y.^Q,\^. 
newly  repaired  at  the  expense  of  a  Roman  centu-    LiAVtJV*^ 
rion  commanding  the  little  detachment  of  Syrian  ^  ^ 


74  RABBI  JESHUA. 

auxiliaries.  The  beautiful  structures  which  Bar 
Jochai  erected  nearly  a  century  later  in  Galilee 
were  not  yet  in  existence,  and  the  villagers  were 
proud  of  their  synagogue,  mean  and  humble  though 
it  was. 

In  one  of  those  dark  and  narrow  huts  Rabbi 
Jeshua  sat  resting,  with  his  followers  around  him. 
In  the  shadow  of  the  bare  mud-walled  room,  the 
white  garments  and  ample  turban  of  the  Master, 
the  brown-striped  mantles,  the  sheepskin  jackets, 
the  bronzed  and  naked  limbs  of  his  peasant  pupils, 
formed  a  picture  such  as  Rembrandt  would  have 
loved  to  paint.  The  circle  of  listeners  crouched  on 
the  clay  floor  or  on  the  rude  reed  mats,  almost 
filled  the  narrow  space  round  the  holy  man.  The 
doorway  was  choked  with  the  forms  of  those  who 
sought  admission,  and  in  the  fierce  glare  of  the 
sunlight  the  throngs  of  poor  crowded  to  gain  a 
glimpse  of  the  great  physician. 

The  blue-robed  women  brought  their  sick  babies 
in  their  arms,  the  ophthalmic  patients  groped  to 
the  door,  the  withered  limbs  and  fevered  faces  of 
the  sick  met  the  eye  on  all  sides  ;  and  as  the  cool 
evening  time  commenced,  and  the  red  glow  spread 
over  lake  and  mountain,  the  beds  of  the  sufferers 
were  carried  out,  and  laid  in  the  path  by  which  the 
Rabbi  must  pass. 


RABBI  JESHUA'S  LIFE.  75 

Simeon  records  an  instance  of  yet  more  eager 
anxiety.  On  one  occasion,  he  says,  the  mud  roof 
and  thatch  of  boughs  which  covered  in  the  httle 
cabin  were  torn  up  by  impatient  friends,  and  the 
poor  nervous  sufferer  was  lowered  into  the  midst 
of  the  circle  close  to  the  very  feet  of  Rabbi  Jeshua.  lj,j,Si,j^« 
He  records,  moreover,  that  so  great  was  the  ,y  o^rcH^Px 
patient's  faith  in  the  power  of  the  Master,  that  he 
was  able  to  obey  the  imperative  command  of  the 
Rabbi,  who  adjured  him  to  rise  and  walk. 

Again  a  wonderful  story  is  related  in  another 
part  of  the  chronicle.  From  Capharnahum  the 
Master  and  his  followers  rowed  over  the  still  lake 
to  the  mountains  of  Hippos  near  Bethania.  As 
they  landed  and  toiled  up  the  steep  rocky  path, 
a  fearful  figure  greeted  their  sight.  The  tall  lean 
form,  the  ragged  beard,  the  long  hair  unkempt 
and  tangled,  the  naked  body  burnt  brown  by  the 
sun  and  bruised  and  cut  by  the  rocks,  the  fierce 
and  grim  countenance,  betokened  a  savage  maniac. 
It  was  the  madman  who  inhabited  the  rocky  sepul- 
chres above  the  pass,  whom  many  had  vainly 
striven  to  bind  with  chains,  and  who  came  running 
and  bounding  over  the  rocks,  uttering  inarticulate 
cries  of  menace  and  rage.  At  sight  of  him  the  by- 
standers fled,  the  Greek  shepherds  who  were  feed- 
ing their    unclean   herds    on   the   acorns   of   the 


76  RABBI  JESHUA. 

scattered  oaks  were  infected  with  the  panic,  and 
the  rush  of  the  crowd  frightened  even  the  black 
swine,  who  galloped  hastily  off,  and  falling  over  the 
precipices  perished  in  the  lake. 

Yet  when  the   followers  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  ven- 
tured back  to  the  spot,  expecting  no  doubt  to  find 
only  his  mangled  remains  torn  by  the  devils  who 
possessed  the  madman,  they  were  awe-stricken  to 
see  him  seated  calmly,  and  that  wild  figure  at  his 
feet,  conquered  by  the  soothing  influence  of  all- 
mastering  will,  "  clothed,  and  in  his  right  mind." 
In  reading  the  quaint  chronicle  of  Simeon  has 
!   '^.-,  .,,    Saddik,  we  are  no  doubt  at  liberty  to  receive,  with 
WL,^  i(c.\-<'      ^^^  scepticism  which  we  may  consider  a  sign  of 
Ccv^y^^     our  infinite  superiority  to  himself,  the  various  won- 
■— '*^"'      derful  statements  which  he  makes  respecting  the 
actions  of  Rabbi  Jeshua.     We  are  not  dealing  with 
those  high  questions   of  miracle  which  form   the 
subject  of  controversy  between  the  great  doctors 
of  the  Church  and  the  great  critics  of  the  world  ; 
and   while   acknowledging  that   such   miracles,   if 
attested  by  the  evidence  of  inspiration,  are  binding 
on  us  as  articles  of  faith,  we  are  not  thereby  for- 
bidden to  criticise  freely  the  statements  of  a  rab- 
binical chronicler  any  more  than  we  are  forbidden 
to  denounce  the  errors  of  the  modern  spiritualist  or 
clairvoyant.     We  are  dealing  with  a  simple  episode 


RABBI  JESHUA'S   LIFE.  77 

of  Oriental  Kfe,  with  the  spirit  of  Eastern  super- 
stition among  the  illiterate  peasantry  of  Galilee, 
and  among  the  humble  scribes  of  the  Hasaya.  It 
is  a  question  of  evidence,  and  none  will  suppose 
that  in  thus  freely  criticising  the  ideas  of  our 
quaint  author,  we  are  denying  great  truths  of  the 
miraculous  surely  attested  by  inspiration,  if  inspira- 
tion ever  did  attest  a  miracle.  ^ 


Yet  let  us  pause  before  contemptuously  dis- 
missing the  stories  which  crowd  the  pages  of 
Simeon's  chronicle.  One  fact  we  cannot  doubt : 
Rabbi  Jeshua  attained  suddenly__to^^  fame,  of 
which  the  noise  spread  from  Dan  to  Beersheba ; 
and  among  the  small  band  of  his  personal  ad- 
herents he  was  secretly  believed  to  be  the  ex- 
pected Messiah.  How  are  we  to  account  for  this 
sudden  reputation  ?  Preachers  and  prophets, 
rabbis  and  hermits,  there  were  enough  and  to 
spare.  Simeon  does  not  even  pretend  that  the 
exquisite  fables  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  were  understood 
by  his  astonished  audience  ;  nor  did  they  contain 
any  very  great  or  revolutionary  doctrine,  or  utter 
any  new  cry,  other  than  those  which  formed  the 
burden  of  every  prophet  and  every  doctor  of  the 
Law.  That  a  rabbi  should  do  otherwise  than 
turn  with  contempt  from  the  peasant  and  the 
sinner  may  have  created  surprise  and  awakened 


78  RABBI  JESHUA. 

personal     attachment.       That     a    hermit    should 
mingle  with  the  village  crowd,  might  be  explained 
on  the  assumption  that  he   was    mad,    or    C^^hkh 
was  much  the  same)  inspired — an  object  of  rever- 
ence partly,  and  partly  of  pity ;  but  these  peculi- 
arities are  not  sufficient  to  account  for  the  ringing 
voice  of  rumour  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land. 
Itt  7ct.i^  -     Perhaps,  then,    Rabbi  Simeon's   explanation   is 
i-«j  urrw^ll^i'^i^x   all   the   simplest.     He   tells   us   that   Rabbi 
/ij^^ A'  Jeshua  wrought  wonderful  cures, among  the  people 
"^'S-  /^  of  the  land  ;  that  he   healed  the  possessed,  gave 
sight  to  the  blind,  made  the  lame  walk,  opened 
the  ears    of    the    deaf,    cured  the   leper   and   the 
palsied,  nay,  even  raised  the  dead. 

We  might  easily  explain  this  all  away,  or  we 
might  say  that  after  so  long  a  time,  and  with  so 
meagre  an  account,  it  is  now  impossible  to  form  a 
judgment  as  to  what  really  occurred.  We  might 
point  out  that  there  were  reasons  which  made  it 
necessary  for  the  followers  of  this  supposed  Messiah 
to  pretend  that  he  possessed  supernatural  powers. 
In  various  ways  we  might  apply  the  cynical  scep- 
ticism of  modern  Western  scientific  criticism  to  the 
simple  narrative  of  this  humble  writer  ;  and  those 
who  consider  the  question  unworthy  their  attention 
will  no  doubt  here  close  the  present  volume. 


RABBI   JESIIUA'S   LIFE.  79 

Nevertheless,  suspicion  often  overreaches  itself, 
and  wisdom  is  not  always  incredulous  of  the 
honesty  of  the  simple.  We__know  that  the  phy- 
sician enjoys  yet  in  the  East  a  reputation  to  which 
/not  even  the  prophet  can  attain  ;  that  his  simplest 
cures  are  attributed  to  a  supernatural  cunning,  or 
to  the  aid  of  mighty  spirits  who  obey  him.  We 
know  that  the  faith  of  his  patients  often  secures 
the  success  of  the  treatment.  We  know  yet  more 
that  the  blessings  and  heartfelt  gratitude  of  the 
poor,  the  sick,  the  mother  and  the  wife,  the  old 
and  young,  follow  him  wherever  he  goes,  and 
circle  him  round  as  a  wall  of  defence.  Let  those 
who  know  not  the  East  think  of  the  doctor  among 
the  passages  of  an  Irish  court  in  London,  and 
imagine  the  faith  and  the  affection  which  are  given 
to  the  physician  in  Syria,  among  a  peasantiy  more 
ignorant,  more  neglected,  and  more  credulous  than 
even  the  lowest  caste  of  the  English  poor. 

Remember  also  that  the  knowledge  of  medicine  ^t^* 
was  among  the  mysterious  attainments  of  the 
monastic  Hasaya.  What  simple  craft  in  herbs  and 
unguents  Rabbi  Joshua  may  have  possessed  we 
known  not ;  but  this  we  know,  that  in  vain  might 
he  have  striven  to  explain  to  those  whom  he  healed, 
the  causes — perhaj5S_onJy  half,  understood  by  him- 
self— of  tlicir  cure,  and   in    vain   might   he   have 


4-^^  yr    ffUA^  A/^'- 


8o  RABBI  JESHUA. 

pretested — as  indeed  he  did  protest — that  none  but 
TfeL"!   I  natural  means  were  at  his  disposal.     It  was  equally  \ 
possible  in  their  eyes  that  his  secret  charms  should     \ 
be  made  of  clay,  or  that  a  herbal  unguent  should  > 

be  the  means  of  healing  the  eyes  of  the  ophthalmic 
patient ;  and   the  conviction   that,   by   miraculous 
means,  he  exorcised  the  demons  to  whom  all  sick- 
ness was  plainly  attributable,  was  too   deeply  im- 
printed in  the  minds  of  his  patients,  through  the 
influence   of   universal    and   long   existing    super- 
stition, for  it  to  be  possible  that  one  man,  however 
honest,  and  however  outspoken,  should  be  able  to 
combat  the  credulity  of  the  populace. 
f  (a  ,„.^s  regards  the  raising  of  the  dead,  it  must  be 
noted  that  in  the  only  case  recorded  by  Simeon 
has  Saddik  the  chronicler  has  honestly  stated  that 
Rabbi  Jeshua  never  claimed  to  have  done  any  such 
deed.     His  patient,  a  young  girl,  was  believed  by 
the  bystanders  to  be  deceased  ;  but  the  penetration 
ULfU^^  of  the  physician  showed  him  apparently  that  it  was 
merely  a  case  of  a  faint,  a  fit,  or  such  like  seizure  ; 
and  when  the  crowd  had  been  driven  out  and  air 
given  to  the  sufferer  she  revived,  not  to  the  sur- 
prise   of    Rabbi    Jeshua,   but    to    the    boundless 
astonishment   of   those    who    had   heard   without 
believing  his  assertion   that    she  was  not   really 
dead. 


r-  •  < ' 


HH*^ 


RABBI  JESHUA'S   LIFE.  8  I 

Still  we  have  to  account  for  those  cases  in  which 
nervous  diseases  and  possession  were  healed  and  '^ 
controlled  by  Rabbi  Jcshua.  As  regards  both 
these  and  the  other  so-called  miraculous  cures 
attributed  to  him,  we  have  to  combat  the  diffi- 
culties that  Rabbi  Simeon's  narrative  was  written 
down  long  after  the  events  recorded  had  occurred, 
and  that  those  events  are  represented  according 
as  they  appeared  to  the  understanding  of  a  man 
not  less  ignomit  nor  less  superstitious^  than  were 
the  humble  patients  themselves.  Yet  in  spite  of 
the  element  of  wonder  thus  unconsciously  intro- 
duced into  the  story  by  the  chronicler,  we  find  more 
than  once  traces  of  the  real  spirit  in  which  Rabbi 
Jeshua  himself  regarded  his  own  wonderful  acts. 
More  than  once  we  find  that  he  declared,  to  the 
persons  whom  he  healed,  that  it  was  their  faith 
which  made  them  whole. 

To  a  physician  this  declaration  is  full  of  sug- 
gestiveness.  He  knows  practically  how  powerful 
is  the  influence  of  a  strong  will  over  the  less  firm 
determination  of  inferior  minds.  We  have  degraded 
this  unstudied  yet  undoubted  influence  by  the 
names  of  mesmerism  or  electro-biology,  we .  have 
allowed  it  to  remain  the  plaything  of  charlatans 
and  adventurers  ;  yet  it  will  not  be  questioned  that 
the  soothing   influence  which  a   strong  character 

G 


82  RABI3I  JESHUA. 

:  exercises  over  the  maniac  or  the  nervous  sufferer, 
IV  eu'      may  be  witnessed -in^our  own  times  and  in  our  own 
7  ^"tV^    .country  not  less  than  it  was  in  the  East  nineteen 
centuries  ago. 

Such  cures  as  are  recorded  of  Rabbi  Jeshua 
lave  been  performed  by  men  who  have  laid  no 
claim  to  peculiar  sanctity  or  to  supernatural  power, 
(for  we  are  at  least  justified  in  assuming  that  the 
'supposed  possession  by  demons  is  but  an  Oriental 
synonym  for  madness.  How  far  those  cures  were 
1  perfect  or  permanent,  or  how  far  they  may  have 
been  temporary  and  dependent  on  the  presence  of 
the  physician  we  are  unable  now  to  judge  ;  but  it  is 
not  from  the  chronicle  of  Rabbi  Simeon  that  .we 
can  draw  evidence  sufficient  to  prove  that  Rabbi 
Jeshua  either  possessed,  or  even  claimed  to  be  able 
to  exert,  any  supernatural  powers  of  healing. 

That  Rabbi  Jeshua  did  possess  that  strength  of 
will,  and  controlling  influence,  which  have  been 
suggested  as  the  cause  of  his  power  over  nervous 
patients  may  perhaps  be  hereafter  judged  from  the 
account  of  his  death.  It  is  by  such  strong  natures 
that  the  passions  of  other  men  are  roused — great 
love  in  some,  fierce  hatred  on  the  contrary  in 
others ;  and  such  love  and  such  hatred  were  the 
fortune  of  the  great  Rabbi. 

In   the   little   synagogue   of  Capharnahum   the 


RABBI  JESHUA'S  LIFE.  83 

power  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  over  the  insane  was  first 
evinced.  Among  the  fishers  of  Kinnereth  the 
cures  of  fever,  eyesore,  skin-diseases,  and  nervous 
affections  were  first  performed.  The  fame  of  these 
good  deeds  spread  like  lightning  over  the  land. 
In  a  country  where  medical  knowledge  was  con- 
fined to  the  recommendation  of  such  charms  as  an 
adder's  skin  or  a  locust's  egg,  and  where  all  disease 
was  attributed  to  the  malign  influence  of  demons, 
the  glad  news  was  spread  abroad  that  a  healing 
prophet  had  appeared,  and  rumour  magnified  the 
character  of  his  deeds  not  less  in  his  lifetime  than 
has  tradition  in  later  days. 

Among  those  who  knew  and  loved  Rabbi  Jeshua 
the  healing  power  which  he  possessed  was  evidence 
of  his  prophetic  claims.  From  Elijah  downwards 
the  power  of  raising  the  dead,  of  cleansing  the 
leper,  of  curing  the  sick,  had  belonged  to  those  who 
had  found  favour  with  and  were  inspired  by  God. 
But  yet  more  the  healing  of  the  sick  was  one  of 
the  special  attributes  of  the  expected  Messiah ; 
and  the  Rabbi  himself  pointed  out  that  by  him 
they  saw  fulfilled  the  prediction  that  the  future 
prince  should  give  sight  to  the  blind  and  heal  the 
wounded. 

In  the  Babylonian  Talmud  we  find  a  beautiful 
fable  which,  though  of  later  date,  may  serve  to 


84  RABBI  JESHUA. 

illustrate  the  Jewish  expectations  as  to  the  healing 
powers  of  the  Messiah.  "  When  will  he  come  ? " 
said  Rabbi  Jehoshua  ben  Levi.  "  Go,  ask  him," 
answered  Elijah.  "Where  does  he  abide?"  "At 
the  gate  of  Rome."  "And  whereby  is  he  known  ? " 
"  He  sits  among  the  poor  and  sick,  and  they  open 
all  their  wounds  at  once.  Yet  he  only  opens  and 
binds  one,  and  then  another,  for  he  says,  perchance 
I  may  be  called  and  may  not  tarry." 

But  Rabbi  Jeshua  had  enemies  as  well  as  friends. 
The  Pharisees  of  Jerusalem,  refusing  to  recognise  a 
Galilean  Messiah,  found  an  easier  way  of  account- 
ing for  his  healing  powers,  and  openly  accused  him 
^         of  sorcery.     The  divine  Name — the  mystic  Shem- 
hamphorash — was  a  potent  spell,  through  the  use 
of  which  the  wizard  might  compel  the  powers  of 
evil.     In  later  times  it  was  pretended  that  Rabbi 
Jeshua  had  impiously  violated  the  sanctuary  itself, 
had  penetrated  into  the  Holy  of  Holies,  and  had 
read   the   sacred   name   written   on    the   stone   of 
foundation.     It  was  through  the  knowledge  thus 
unlawfully  obtained   that   he   was   able,   said    his 
enemies,  to  work  his  wonders. 
.-,  -I       The  answer  which   Rabbi  Jeshua  gave  to  this 
AfiiW*^1     charge  is  striking  for  its  simple  dignity.     In  order 
ly  Mm^  .  \  ^Q   ^Q^.j.   wonders    by   aid   of    the   Name   it   was 
•  necessary  that  he  should  pronounce  it  according  to 


RADin  jeshua's  life.  £5 

its  letters.  Yet  so  to  pronounce  it,  save  when  the 
high  priest  once  a  year  blessed  the  people,  con- 
stituted the  crime  of  blasphemy  which  according 
to  Jewish  law  was  restricted  to  this  one  offence — 
the  utterance  of  the  name  Jehovah.  Rabbi  Jeshua 
did  not  deign  to  protest  his  innocence  of  this 
offence ;  he  merely  answered  his  accusers  that,  with- 
out so  doing,  he  could  not  through  sorcery  work 
the  wonders  which  men  attributed  to  him. 

It  was,  we  have  already  seen,  as  the_successor 
and  disciple  of  Hanan  of  Bethania  that  Rabbi 
Jeshua  commenced  his  public  career.  When  the 
voice  of  the  hermit  was  silenced  that  of  his  greater 
pupil  began  to  be  heard.  The  message  which  he 
announced  was  the  same,  and  not  only  Rabbi 
Jeshua  but  his  disciples  also  took  up  the  cry  of  the 
immediate  advent  of  Messiah,  and  the  exhortation 
to  penitence  and  good  works. 

But  in  addition  to  such  preaching  Rabbi  Jeshua 
and  (to  a  certain  extent)  his  immediate  followers 
performed  we  may  believe  remarkable  cures  ;  and  ,;)W-^*»-« 
gradually  the  conviction  of  the  Messiahship  of  the  ^f^ 
Master  changed  materially  the  character  of  his  own 
mission  and  influenced  the  expectations  of  his  ad- 
herents. With  this  subject  we  shall  however  be 
concerned  later,  when  speaking  of  the  maxims  of 
the  Rabbi,  and  may  now  confine  ourselves  to  the 


86  RABBI  JESHUA. 

consideration  of  his  early  career,  of  the  views  of  his 
fellow-countrymen  regarding  him,  and  of  the  pecu- 

'^dyKo-'t     liarly  ascetic, character  of  his  life  in  Galilee. 

The  disciples  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  were  derived 
without  exception  from  the  peasant  class.  One  at 
least  seems  to  have  belonged  to  the  ancient  and 

[^y  ,  ,  aboriginal  population  of  the  Canaanites,  and  one  to 
the  fierce  and  uncompromising  party  of  the  Zealots 
whose  intemperance  was  destined  to  bring  ruin  on 
the  chosen  people. 

These  men,  sent  out  to  exhort  the  populace,  and 
to  prepare  for  the  great  expected  catastrophe,  were 
regarded  with  supreme  contempt  by  the  school  of 
the  Pharisees,  as  rustics  to  whom  even  the  washing 
of  hands  before  meals  (a  mark  alike  of  good  breed- 
ing and  of  religious  purity)  was  unknown.  But 
perhaps  among  the  poor  of  the  land  to  whom  their 
Master  had  devoted  his  life,  fitter  messengers  could 
not  be  found  than  were  the  rough  fishers  and  herds- 
men whom  Rabbi  Jeshua  had  attached  to  his 
person. 

By  the  Pharisees  also  the  newly  announced 
prophet  was  importuned  for  a  sign  or  test  of  his 
powers.  It  was  a  recognised  rule  in  Jewish 
law  that  no  prophet  could  be  accepted  as  truly 
inspired  until  some  prediction  of  good  made  by 
him  had  been  fulfilled ;  but  to  such  questions  Rabbi 


RABBI  JESHUA'S  LIFE.  8/ 

Jeshua  gave  no  answer.  He  knew  well  how  hope- 
less it  must  be  to  endeavour  to  persuade  his 
enemies,  or  to  seek  an  honest  appreciation  of  the 
nobility  of  his  life  among  the  prejudiced  fanatics 
of  the  Jerusalem  colleges.  The  wondrous  cures 
which  he  had  wrought  had  been  attributed  to 
sorcery,  and  even  if  he  had  consented,  or  if  he  had 
been  able,  to  satisfy  his  critics  by  predictions  sooni 
after  verified,  the  power  of  prophecy  might  in  the 
same  manner  have  been  attributed  to  a  demoniacal 
origin. 

Among  the  members  of  his  own  family  the  claims 
of  the  great  Rabbi  were  not  recognised.  Perhaps 
no  Jew  could  have  been  found  at  any  period  of 
history,  however  eagerly  he  may  have  expected 
the  advent  of  a  Messiah,  who  would  have  been 
capable  of  believing  his  own  brother  to  be  the 
expected  prince.  The  brethren  of  Rabbi  Jeshua 
pronounced  him  mad,  and  after  ineffectual  efforts 
to  restrain  his  actions,  they  (with  exception  of  the 
martyr  Jacob  who  became  a  convert  at  a  later 
period)  left  him  without  pity  to  the  sad  fate 
which,  as  we  shall  hereafter  see,  awaited  him. 

Among  the  great  orthodox  sects  whose  leaders 
were  to  be  found  in  Jerusalem,  the  sudden  reputa- 
tion of  Rabbi  Jeshua  awakened  serious  alarm. 
The  Ilcrodlans  regarded  him  as  a  possible  rcvolu- 


88  RABBI  JESHUA. 

tJonist  not  less  dangerous  than  Hanan,  and  the 
superstitious  Antipas  even  doubted  whether  it 
might  not  be  the  murdered  hermit  himself  who  had 
been  reincarnate,  with  powers  yet  more  wonderful 
than  before.  The  Sadducees  saw  in  the  teaching 
of  Rabbi  Jeshua  a  menace  to  the  established  power 
of  the  then  dominant  family  of  high  priests. 
The  Pharisees  only  recognised  in  him  a  teacher 
who  had  pronounced  himself  independent  of  the 
trammels  of  tradition. 

Thus  among  the  powerful,  the  rich,  and  the  ruling 
classes  the  sudden  celebrity  of  the  new  Master 
roused  only  feelings  of  hatred,  fear,  and  opposition  ; 
while  among  the  poor,  the  despised,  the  ignorant, 
and  the  oppressed  the  calm  wisdom  and  the  deep 
compassion  of  this  great  teacher,  who  had  vouch- 
safed to  humble  himself  to  their  estate,  awakened 
sentiments  of  heartfelt  gratitude  and  ardent  love. 

The  character  of  Rabbi  Jeshua's  religious  tenets 
has  been  variously  misrepresented  not  only  by 
modern  writers  but  even  by  those  who  professed  to 
be  his  followers.  He  has  been  represented  as  a 
Greek  philosopher  elaborating  a  new  republican 
moral  system.  He  has  been  pictured  as  a  poet 
delighting  in  the  rural  life  of  Galilee  until  finally 
spoiled  by  adulation  and  lured  by  vanity  to  his 
fate.     German  metaphysicians  have  converted  him 


RABBI  JESHUA'S   LIFE.  89 

into  a  mythical  embodyment  of  abstract  virtues. 
The  Pharisees  have  represented  him  as  a  Pharisee, 
and  even  the  mystic  Alexandrians  have  claimed 
him  as  a  teacher  of  Cabbalistic  gnosticism. 

There   are,   however,  certain    broad    indications        -^^ 
observable  in  his  life  and  teaching,  which  show  that     . 
he  continued  to  adhere  to  the  ascetic  habits  and 
to   the   views   of   the   sect   of    the    Hasaya.     His 
wandering  life  spent  in  journeying  from  village  to 
village,  on  errands  of  mercy  and  for  the  exhortation 
of  the  peasantry  ;  his  frequent  retreat  to  the  soli- 
tary mountains  or  deserts  of  Galilee;   his  know- 
ledge of  medicine;  his  reputation  as  a  prophet ;  his  •  * 
poverty,  and  his  frequent  eulogies  of  an  ascetic  life,           a  ^ 
are  among  the  many  incidental  indications  of  his          ^-^ 
views  and  habits. 

The  peasantry  of  Galilee  were  a  turbulent  and 
fanatical  race,  yet  we  never  find  that  Rabbi  Jeshua 
availed  himself  of  the  influence  which  he  possessed 
to  stir  them  up  to  rebellion  against  the  constituted 
powers  of  the  realm  ;  for  the  Hasaya  were  a  sect  1 1^  r\ 
remarkable  for  their  peaceful  submission  to  the 
political  powers,  and  in  this  respect  therefore  Rabbi 
Jeshua  followed  the  precepts  of  the  party  to  which 
he  belonged. 

The  country  round  Phahil,  south  of  Kinnereth, 
and  east  of  the  lake,  the  region  of  Bethania  and 


90  RABBI  JESHUA. 

the  vale  of  Jordan,  formed  a  district  which  appears 
i^ci^c^"'  to  have  been  the  favourite  abode  of  the  Abionim, 
-\^  /H**'  or  "  poor,"  who  were  akin  to  the  Hasaya.  It  is  to 
,^^.4«>v^'  {ithis  region  that  we  find  Rabbi  Jeshua  often  resort- 
^_i  //  ing,  and  another  indication  is  thus  afforded  of  his 
^S^  *  '     I  real  religious  tenets. 

— — -^  The  Hasaya  having  certain  ceremonies  and  lus- 

trations peculiar  to  themselves,  were  guilty  of  the 
neglect  of  the  great  feasts  of  Jerusalem  and  of  the 
sacrifices  commanded  by  the  law.  Thus  when  we 
Id  ^^y-i^^'  find  no  mention  of  any  visit  to  the  Holy  City  by 
Rabbi  Jeshua  before  his  final  and  fatal  journey, 
and  when  we  note  that,  according  to  the  chronicle 
of  Simeon,  the  Rabbi  then  looked  for  the  first  time 
on  the  great  edifices  of  the  capital,  we  have  again 
an  indication  that  he  belonged  to  the  Hasaya. 
The  independence  of  doctrine  which  marks  the 
-  sayings  of  the  Rabbi  sufficiently  shows  that  he 
belonged  neither  to  the  Pharisees  nor  to  the  Sad- 
ducees,  as  will  be  more  fully  explained  later  ;  but 
one  indication  of  his  peculiar  asceticism  remains 
to  be  pointed  out. 

It  was  considered  by  the  devout  Jew  an  absolute 
duty  to  marry,  and  to  marry  early.  The  Mishna 
fixes  the  age  of  eighteen  as  the  latest  at  which  a 
man  should  wed.  The  first  chapter  of  the  Torah 
contained  the  command  to  increase  and  multiply, 


RABBI  JESHUA'S   LIFE.  9 1 

and  the  Jewish  mother  might  always  hope  to  be 
the  happy  parent  of  the  Messiah.  How  then  do 
we  account  for  the  fact  that  Rabbi  Jeshua  was  un- 
married, except  on  the  ground  that  he  belonged  to 
the  celibate  sect  of  the  Hasaya } 

The  Jewish  contempt  for  women  and  cynical 
estimate  of  their  moral  worth  finds  expression  in 
many  passages  of  their  ancient  literature.  The 
Hasaya  were  specially  remarkable  for  their  distrust 
of  the  sex  ;  and  while  not  absolutely  condemning 
all  wedlock  as  wicked,  extolled  the  virtue  of  celi-* 
bacy  to  the  highest  degree.  The  views  of  a  future 
Paradise,  which  Rabbi  Jeshua  on  one  occasion 
divulged,  differed  from  those  of  other  doctors 
especially  in  this,  that  he  spoke  neither  of  marry- 
ing nor  giving  in  marriage,  and  deprived  the  ex- 
pected Eden  of  the  materialistic  element  which 
has  formed  so  conspicuous  a  feature  of  the  Moslem 
Jenneh  not  less  than  of  the  Pharisaic  Paradise. 

It  is  true  that  the  Jews  never  spoke  of  the 
Messiah  as  having  a  queen,  although  in  a  psalm 
considered  to  be  of  Messianic  importance  such  a 
consort  is  mentioned.  A  high  priest  would,  it  was 
thought,  stand  by  the  throne  of  the  "Anointed 
Prince,"  but  a  princess  was  not  depicted  as  sharing 
that  throne.  In  this  respect  Rabbi  Jeshua's  celi- 
bacy might   be   thought   to   be  the  result  of  his 


92  RABBI  JESHUA. 

Messianic  pretensions  rather  than  of  his  ascetic 
views  ;  but  such  an  explanation  would  not  suffice 
to  account  for  the  fact  that  at  thirty  years  of  age, 
when  only  just  commencing  his  career,  and  when 
probably  not  as  yet  claiming  to  be  the  Messiah,  he 
was  still  unwedded  ;  and  the  former  explanation, 
that  hfe  belonged  to  an  ascetic  and  celibate  sect, 
seems  therefore  to  be  more  satisfactory. 

Here,  then,  before  proceeding  to  enumerate  the 
recorded  sayings  of  Rabbi  Jeshua,  and  before  re- 
lating his  death  or  pointing  the  moral  of  his  career, 
we  may  pause  to  sum  up  the  chief  features  of  his 
life  in  Galilee. 

He  appeared  among  men  as  the  successor  of  the 
hermit  Hanan.  He  took  up  the  burden  of  the  ex- 
hortation to  penitence  and  good  works,  and  the 
prediction  of  the  approaching  advent  of  the 
Anointed  Prince  of  Israel.  He  attained  among 
the  simple  peasantry  of  the  land  to  a  reputation 
for  wisdom,  sanctity,  and  supernatural  power, 
which  was  due  to  the  purity  of  his  life  and  the 
medical  knowledge  distinctive  of  his  sect.  He 
gained  their  affections  by  the  tender  compassion 
which  he  evinced  for  their  sufferings,  and  by  the 
good  deeds  which  he  wrought  among  them.  He 
earned  the  hatred  and  distrust  of  the  higher  orders 
by  the  superiority  to   class  prejudices  which  he 


RABBI  JESHUA'S   LIFE.  93 

manifested  in  his  treatment  of  the  poor,  and  by 
the  novelty  of  some  of  his  doctrines  on  traditional 
and  religious  questions.  He  was  cast  off  by  his 
family,  accused  of  sorcery  by  the  Pharisees,  and 
importuned  to  give  proof  of  the  prophetic  character 
which  had  been  thrust  upon  him  rather  than 
assumed  by  him.  The  elements  of  a  great  future 
struggle  with  constituted  authority  were  perceptible; 
yet  in  the  tenor  of  his  daily  life  there  was  no 
trace  of  that  spirit  of  rebellion  against  the  ruling 
powers  which  was  so  marked  a  characteristic  of 
the  Galilean  fanatics  of  his  time. 

We  may  picture  to  ourselves  the  little  band  of 
ascetics  who  travelled  barefoot,  and  clad  each  in  a 
single  garment,  across  the  rugged  ridges  or  Upper 
Galilee  or  through  the  dark  brown  plains  of  Sep- 
phoris.  We  may  recall  to  the  mind's  eye  the  eager 
crowds  of  tanned  peasants,  the  blue-robed  women, 
the  naked  children,  who  pressed  round  the  Master, 
intent  not  so  much  on  listening  to  his  exhortations  or 
to  his  mysterious  fables,  as  on  bringing  to  his  notice 
the  sick  child,  the  withered  limb,  the  sightless  eyes 
of  a  relative  or  friend.  On  the  shore  they  crowded 
round  the  little  boat  in  which  he  sat  apart.  In  the 
village  they  tore  up  even  the  brushwood  roof  of 
the  cabin  where  he  sat,  to  lower  the  palsied  into 
the  midst  of  the  attendant  circle  of  his  listeners. 


94  RABBI  JESHUA. 

Conspicuous  by  his  spotless  turban,  his  white 
garment,  his  distinctive  girdle,  by  the  beauty  of  his 
features,  by  the  calm  dignity  of  his  manner,  the 
great  Master  moved  among  them  all.  Patiently 
he  listened  to  their  troubles,  healed  their  ills,  and 
instructed  their  ignorance ;  but  among  these 
humble  followers,  who  heard  with  their  ears  but 
understood  not  the  beautiful  fables  which  he 
uttered,  there  was  no  man  who  could  comprehend 
the  genius,  or  fathom  the  wisdom  of  the  teacher. 
Alone  in  his  greatness,  and  removed  as  far  from  the 
rabbinic  doctor  as  from  the  untaught  peasant, 
Rabbi  Jeshua  moved  among  his  fellow-countrymen 
in  the  solitude  of  genius,  distinguished  from  all 
other  teachers  in  his  self-created  vocation — the 
Messiah  of  the  Poor. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SAYINGS  OF   RABBI  JESHUA. 

Rabbinical  maxims — Rabbi  Jeshua's  peculiar  views — The 
praise  of  poverty — Fanaticism — The  Sabbath — Fasting- 
Divorce  —  Tribute — Washing  —  Immortality —  Fables — 
Messianic  claims — Concealment — Genealogy —  Fatalism 
— Oriental  character. 

When  the  heathen  scoffer  came  to  Shammai  and 
asked  to  be  taught  the  Law  in  such  time  as  he 
could  remain  standing  on  one  leg,  the  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Sanhedrim  dismissed  him  in  great  anger. 
But  when  he  made  the  same  demand  of  Hillel,  '^' 
the  answer  was  : 

"  Do  not  to  others  what  you  would  not  that 
others  should  do  to  you.  This  is  the  whole  Law, 
the  rest  is  only  a  comment  on  this." 

"Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself."     In 
these  words  likewise  Hillel  was  wont  to  epitomise 
the  Law.    Yet,  curiously  enough,  both  these  sayings 
have  been  attributed  to  Rabbi  Jeshua,  and   sup-        • 
posed  to  be  original,  although  the  latter,  at  least,  is       J 


96  RABBI  JESHUA. 

merely  a  paraphrase  of  a  passage  in  the  Pentateuch 
itself. 

Many  other  sayings  are  common  to  Rabbi 
Jeshua,  and  to  other  doctors  who  were  his  con- 
temporaries or  his  predecessors. 

"  Do  His  will  as  if  it  were  thine  own  will,  that 
He  may  fulfil  thy  will  as  His  own  will,"  was  a  say- 
ing of  Gamaliel. 

"  Judge  not,"  was  the  advice  of  Hillel ;  and  to 
him  also  are  attributed  the  maxims,  "He  that 
exalteth  himself  shall  be  abased,"  "  If  I  do  no 
good  works,  who  shall  do  them  for  me  ?  " 

The  repetition  of  such  sayings  is  not,  however, 
sufficient  to  prove  that  Rabbi  Jeshua  was  a  disciple 
of  Hillel,  or  of  the  Jerusalem  rabbinical  school.  The 
maxims  do  not  contain  any  statement  of  startling 
originality  or  of  metaphysical  importance.  They 
are  rather  reflections  arising  from  a  careful  study 
of  the  Law,  and  from  a  right  appreciation  of  its 
spirit  and  intention,  and  are  thus  likely  to  have 
been  independently  uttered  by  students  who  were 
mutually  unknown  one  to  the  other. 

The  maxims  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  must  indeed  be 

^*  /\  ^  ,  considered  as  altogether  secondary  in  importance 

to  the   facts  of  his  career,  and  as  such  they  are 

regarded    by   the   chronicler,   who,   while    jotting 

_     ^*^l  down  here  and  there  in  his  brief  record  of  events 


SAYINGS   OF   RABBI   JESHUA.  97 

such  sayings  or  parables  as  had  most  firmly  fixed 
themselves  in  his  memory,  admits  that  many  others 
which  he  has  not  preserved  were  spoken  by  the 
Rabbi. 

If,  then,  it  may  be  asked,  the  sayings  of  this 
rabbi  are  so  little  different  from  those  of  his  con- 
temporaries, of  what  interest  is  his  career  beyond 
that  of  other  Jewish  doctors  who,  however  well 
known  to  the  curious  student  of  Talmudic  litera- 
ture, are  but  obscure  names  in  the  history  of  their 
age,  and  have  left  no  impress  of  their  influence  on 
the  world  in  general  ? 

The  answer  must  be  that  the  interest  of  the  life 
of  Rabbi  Jeshua  lies  in  his  actions  rather  than  his 
words;  and,  moreover,  that  in  two  important  points 
his  teaching  is  entirely  distinct  from  that  of  his  ^^u^  arv^ 
contemporaries  :    namely,  first,  his  doctrine  as  to  ^■'^  *t' 
the  poor  and  jgnprant  .;_aiid,  secondly,  his  doctrine      ;       /i 
as  to  the  expected  Messiah,  whoin  "he  claimed  to  be. 

The  teaching  of  Rabbi  Nitai,  of  Arbela,  com- 
manded the  student  to  "  withdraw  from  an  evil 
neighbour  and  not  to  associate  with  the  wicked." 
Yet  Rabbi  Jeshua,  who  lived  two  centuries  later 
than  this  great  authority,  was  in  daily  contact  with 
sinners,  and  never  shunned  the  society  of  his 
neighbour,  however  fallen  away  from  ceremonial 
righteousness. 

H 


98  RABBI  JESHUA. 

"A  boor  cannot  fear  sin,  nor  can  a  peasant 
become  a  saint,"  was  the  opinion  of  Hillel.  Yet 
Rabbi  Jeshua  consorted  with  the  peasantry  far 
more  than  with  the  devout,  and  announced  himself 
more  than  once  to  be  the  prophet  of  the  lost  sheep 
of  the  flock  of  Israel. 

"  Get  thyself  a  master,"  said  Joshua  Ben  Pera- 
kiah,  the  contemporary  of  Alexander  Jannaeus, 
and  the  same  maxim  is  recorded  of  Gamaliel.  Yet 
the  Galilean  Rabbi  was  ambitious  to  become  a 
master  rather  than  to  find  one,  and  is  said  to  have 
spoken  in  a  tone  of  authority  and  originality  very 
different  from  that  of  the  students  who  (like  a 
modern  Moslem  preacher)  traced  back  every  cove- 
nant or  interpretation  which  they  repeated,  from 
one  authority  to  another  up  to  the  inspired  original 
exposition  of  Ezra  himself.  Rabbi  Jeshua  gave  to 
his  hearers  not  the  tradition  of  a  certain  school, 
but  his  own  deductions  from  a  deep  and  intelligent 
study  of  the  Law  of  Moses ;  and  while  on  the 
one  hand  it  is  wrong  to  suppose  that  his  maxims 
on  questions  of  morality  were  entirely  original — • 
founded  as  they  were  on  the  authority  of  the 
Scriptures — it  seems,  on  the  other  hand,  equally 
erroneous  to  suppose  that  he  belonged  to  either  of 
the  great  Pharisaic  schools  which  were  then  con- 
tending in  Jerusalem. 


SAYINGS   OF   RAi;ni   JESIIUA.  99 

Like  other  doctors,  then,  Rabbi  Jeshua  advocated 
peace,  humility,  charity,  good  works,  submission  to 
lawful  authority,  forgiveness  of  injuries,  and  the 
abnegation  of  self-will.  Like  other  rabbis,  he 
couched  his  teaching  in  fables ;  and  like  them  also 
he  addressed  his  Hebrew  hearers  as  children  of 
God. 

On  the  other  hand,  his  treatment  of  the  Law  is 
marked  by  an  originality  which  distinguishes  his 
utterances  from  those  of  any  school  of  the  day, 
although  there  is  apparently  nothing  in  his  doc- 
trine which  could  be  considered  as  plainly  irrecon- 
cilable with  the  words  of  Moses. 

This  view  of  the  doctrines  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  is 
supported  by  many  instances  in  which  maxims 
supposed  by  most  writers  to  be  his  original  ideas, 
may  be  compared  with  the  passages  in  the  Law 
from  which  they  were  derived.  The  radical  differ- 
ence between  Rabbi  Jeshua's  views  and  those  of 
other  doctors  as  regarded  the  teaching  of  the 
peasantry,  was  moreover  but  a  feature  of  the  mild 
philosophy  of  the  Hasaya,  who,  while  approaching 
the  Pharisees  in  their  regard  for  tradition,  were 
distinguished,  as  Joscphus  and  Philo  relate,  by 
their  love  of  peace,  poverty,  and  seclusion,  their 
contempt  for  riches  and  for  the  ambitions  of  the 
world. 


lOO  RABBI  JESHUA. 

In  the  maxims  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  we  find  indeed 
expressed  some  of  the  best-known  tenets  of  the 
Hasaya  and  of  the  Abionim.  The  praise  of  ceH- 
bacy  and  chastity  was  one  of  their  distinguishing 
and  least  orthodox  doctrines.  They  were  instructed 
to  wear  their  garments  to  rags,  and  their  shoes  into 
holes  before  buying  new  ones,  to  bathe  frequently 
in  cold  water,  to  have  all  things  in  common,  to 
travel  from  city  to  city,  to  heal  the  sick,  to  exhort 
the  worldly. 

It  is,  then,  in  the  light  of  an  acquaintance  with 
the  views  of  these  humble  pietists  that  we  must 
regard  many  of  the  doctrines  of  Rabbi  Jeshua,  for  to 
his  wandering  emissaries  he  enjoined  chastity  and 
celibacy,  the  rites  of  ablution,  the  contempt  for 
wealth.  He  bade  them  wear  only  the  single  gar- 
ment which  distinguished  the  poor  peasant  from  the 
rich  citizen  clad  in  his  closely-fitting  upper  gaber- 
dine. He  enjoined  on  them  to  go  barefoot,  as  the 
poorest  of  the  poor,  or  shod  with  the  sandals  of 
desert  wanderers.  "  Blessed  are  the  needy,  the 
sad,  the  lowly,  the  hungry,  the  merciful,  the  pure, 
the  peaceful,  the  persecuted,  for  to  them  are  given 
the  times  of  the  Messiah."  Such  were  his  words, 
and  such  were  the  doctrines  of  the  Hasaya  hermits, 
who  had  preceded  and  who  followed  him.  It  was 
the  ideal  of  that  unknown  prophet  of  the  captivity, 


SAYINGS   OF   RABBI  JESIIUA.  lOI 

whose  description  of  himself — applied  later  by  the 
Jews  to  the  Messiah — represented  the  shepherd  of 
wandering  sheep,  the  man  of  sorrows,  despised  and 
rejected,  afflicted  and  poor,  preaching  to  the  meek, 
and  comforting  the  broken  in  heart. 

The  advice  which  was  offered  to  the  rich  by  the 
great  puritan  of  Galilee  was  couched  in  a  similar 
strain.  They  were  to  sell  their  goods  and  give 
away  their  patrimony  to  the  poor.  It  was,  perhaps, 
rather  in  view  of  the  speedy  coming  of  the  Messiah,  , 
the  necessity  of  doing  some  good  work  before  that 
day  should  arrive,  the  transient  nature  of  all 
worldly  advantages  in  consequence  of  the  im- 
pending change,  than  because  of  any  radical  or 
communistic  ideas  on  his  own  part,  that  such  advice 
was  given  ;  but  the  ring  of  the  Hasaya  asceticism 
echoes  through  the  exhortation  —  the  desire  for 
treasure  in  heaven,  the  contempt  for  riches  on 
earth. 

Rabbi  Simeon  records  an  instance  in  which  a 
young  Pharisee,  one  of  the  sect  of  the  "  inquirers," 
as  they  were  called,  who  made  it  a  custom  to  ask 
others  to  point  out  to  them  their  faults,  demanded 
of  the  Rabbi  in  what  respect  he  had  failed  in  devout 
obedience  to  the  law.  The  answer  was,  that  until 
he  had  sold  all  for  the  poor  he  had  not  fulfilled  the  '  ^ 
injunctions  of  the  command,  "thou  shalt  not  harden 


102 


RABBI  JESHUA. 


thy  heart  nor  shut  thy  hand  against  thy  poor 
brother."  Such  advice  was  no  doubt  unpalatable 
to  the  rich  Pharisee,  whose  religion  was  but  a 
refined  selfishness  ;  but  Rabbi  Jeshua  condemned, 
without  scruple,  all  who  hesitated  to  go  to  the 
same  lengths  with  himself  in  the  zealous  pursuit  of 
holiness. 
L  /"     '   Traces  of  that  stern  fanaticism,  which  appears  to 

be  inseparable  from  the  religious  enthusiasm  of  the 
East,  are  indeed  not  wanting  in  the  sayings  of  the 
Galilean  Rabbi.  Not  only  the  rich  were  condemned, 
but  those  who  spared  father  or  mother,  sister  or 
brother,  who  shrank  from  the  most  appalling  sacri- 
fice of  natural  affection,  or  from  the  loss  of  life  or 
limb  in  the  cause  of  the  faith,  were  alike  pronounced 
unworthy  of  a  place  in  the  future  kingdom  of  God. 
It  is  true  that  the  sacrifices  which  he  demanded 
were  perhaps  more  difficult  for  the  rich  and  pros- 
perous than  for  the  poor  and  needy  ;  yet  in  spite 
of  the  tender  pity  which  Rabbi  Jeshua  evinced  for 
the  sinners  whom  he  addressed,  we  find  often  that 
the  standard  of  conduct  which  he  placed  before  his 
followers,  as  an  ideal,  was  one  which  has  been 
recognised  by  the  world  in  all  ages  as  impracti- 
cably exalted,  and  beyond  the  capacity  of  human 
frailty  to  attain. 

On  many  questions  of  the  day  or  of  sectarian 


SAYINGS   OF   RABBI  JESHUA.  IO3 

difference,  Rabbi  Jeshua  had  a  strong  opinion  of 
his  own.  To  us  these  questions  are  for  the  most 
part  of  little  interest.  But,  like  other  great  men, 
he  was  but  little  in  advance  of  the  spirit  of  his  time.  ^yC^^Tk 
The  relative  proportions  of  things  appeared  to  his 
mind  according  to  the  importance  which  early 
education  and  immediate  surroundings  had  origin- 
ally given  to  them.  A  leader,  whose  mind  is  so 
remotely  divided  from  that  of  his  followers  as  to 
dull  and  weaken  his  interest  in  those  things  which 
are  to  them  of  primary  importance,  cannot  hope  to 
influence  in-  a  marked  manner  the  thought  and 
actions  of  his  fellows,  however  much  his  superiority 
may  be  recognised  later,  by  men  of  more  advanced 
intellect  and  education. 

Rabbi   Jeshua   was   a   man   of    his   own   times. 
Educated  in  the  tenets  of  Jewish  faith,  he  looked  i^0^l*> 
forw.ird,  as  did  others,  to  a  Messiah  whose  advent  ':  f': ' 
might  be  immediately  expected.     Brought  up  m        *-,"^ 
the  belief  that  only  in  the  Law  of  Moses  was  the 
whole   and    finite  sum   of  truth   to   be   found,  he 
devoted  his  energies  to  the  right  understanding  of 
that   Law  rather   than   to   any   independent   and 
original  search  after  truth.     Accustomed  from  his 
childhood  to  connect  the  acquisition  of  wealth  with 
oppression,  injustice,  corruption,  and  deceit,  he  was 
naturally  inclined   to   believe   that    only   through 


104  RABBI  JESHUA. 

poverty  and  asceticism  could  the  temptations  of 
the  world  be  avoided,  and  the  indispensable  holi- 
ness of  a  perfect  life  be  attained. 

Thus  to  Rabbi  Jeshua  the  questions  which  then 
agitated  the  Jewish  world,  assumed  an  importance 
with  which  we  find  it  hard  to  sympathise  ;  yet,  as 
illustrating  the  views  with  which  he  regarded  life 
in  general,  they  have  still  some  interest  for  the 
reflective  mind.  The  observance  of  the  sabbath, 
fasting,  divorce,  the  payment  of  tribute,  the  wash- 
ing of  hands,  such  were  the  subjects  concerning 
which  fierce  disputes  were  raging  among  the 
doctors  in  the  time  of  Rabbi  Jeshua,  To  the 
philosophic  Roman  of  the  day,  no  less  than  to  the 
philosophic  Englishmen  of  our  own  times,  such 
matters  of  the  Jew's  superstition  may  have  ap- 
peared too  puerile  to  be  seriously  discussed  by  men 
of  mature  intellect ;  but  to  the  Oriental,  whose 
religion  is  the  very  essence  of  his  daily  life,  such 
questions  were,  and  are,  of  greater  importance 
than  any  matters  of  merely  worldly  interest  could 
possibly  claim  to  be. 

There  was,  perhaps,  no  instance  in  which  the 
self-torturing  ingenuity  of  anxious  obedience  had 
more  completely  frustrated  the  original  intentions 
of  the  Law  of  Moses  than  in  the  observance  of  the 
sabbath.     Designed  as  a  day  of  rest,  of  worship. 


SAYINGS   OF   RABBI  JESIIUA.  105 

and  of  recreation,  it  becan:ie,  under  the  direction  of 
the  Pharisees,  a  continually  recurring-  period  of 
discomfort  and  inconvenience.  The  very  slightest 
semblance  of  work  was  prohibited  ;  but  the  law 
which  forbade  a  Jew  to  travel  more  than  two  thou- 
sand cubits  was  evaded  by  a  complicated  system 
of  legal  fictions,  which  only  find  a  parallel  in  the 
modern  Arab  evasions  of  the  law  of  the  Koran. 
It  is  true  that  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  had 
induced  the  Hasmoneans  to  justify  self-defence 
against  the  heathen  on  the  sabbath  ;  but  short  of 
the  danger  of  life,  no  necessity  was  allowed  to 
supersede  the  law  of  the  sabbath.  Perhaps  the 
day  of  rest  may  have  been  somewhat  less 
dismal  than  the  dreary  Sundays  of  the  Scotch, 
inasmuch  as  the  wearing  of  ornaments,  and 
indulgence  in  harmless  recreation,  or  exercise 
in  the  open  air,  were  not  forbidden.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  Jews  were  far  more  thorough  than 
the  most  devout  Scot  can  claim  to  be,  in  their 
abstention  even  from  any  act  which  might  be  classed 
as  a  "son  of  works."  Mechanical  action  might  not 
be  set  in  motion  so  as  to  continue  through  the 
sabbath.  A  tailor  might  not  carry  his  needle  on 
his  person,  nor  might  the  net  of  the  fowler  remain 
spread  after  the  sabbath  eve.  At  Tiberias,  a  pipe 
of  cold  spring  water  was  carried  through  the  hot 


I06  RABBI  JESHUA. 

baths,  and  thus  gave  a  warm  supply;  yet  the  liquid 
thus  heated  by  the  action  of  a  natural  agent  was 
unlawful  for  drinking  or  washing  on  the  sabbath. 
"  The  cow  of  Rabbi  Eleazar  was  led  forth  with  a 
strap  between  her  horns  (which,  it  was  argued, 
might  have  been  tied  to  them  on  the  sabbath),  but 
it  was  contrary  to  the  will  of  the  wise  men." 

"Whoever  brings  out  food,  even  the  size  of  a 
dried  fig,  is  guilty  of  death."  Such  was  the  stern 
decision  of  the  doctors,  and  such  dicta  were  no 
doubt  enforced  on  all  over  whom  the  Sanhedrim 
had  authority. 

Boldly  to  break  through  the  trammels  of  such  a 
bondage,  to  set  at  nought  the  devices  which  had 
gained  authority  through  long  custom,  was  no 
doubt  to  the  Jew,  as  to  the  Moslem  of  our  own 
days,  a  moral  impossibility.  Subterfuges,  legal 
fictions,  equivocations,  and  dexterous  perversions 
of  the  plain  words  of  the  Law,  were  recognised  as 
allowable ;  but  there  was,  no  doubt,  a  certain 
originality  in  the  view  which — reverting  to  the  true 
spirit  of  the  institution — Rabbi  Jeshua  enunciated, 
in  the  pithy  maxim  that  "  the  sabbath  was  made 
for  man,  and  not  man  for  the  sabbath." 
j  The  question  of  fasting  was,  in  like  manner,  one 

iOD<^"^"'' '     which  distinguished  the  followers  of  Rabbi  Jeshua 
from  the  Pharisees.     By  fasting,  we  must  under- 


SAYINGS   OF   RABBI  JESHUA.  10/ 

stand,  not  the  voluntary  abstinence  of  individual 
ascetics,  but  the  national  fasts  proclaimed  by  the 
Sanhedrim,  in  addition  to  those  annually  observed 
in  obedience  to  the  Law.  Fasting,  moreover,  as 
explained  in  the  Talmud,  appears  to  have  been 
similar  among  the  Jews  to  the  modern  fasting  of 
Orientals  in  Ramadan.  Thus,  while  neither  food 
nor  drink  might  pass  the  lips  during  the  day  time 
of  a  fast,  flesh  and  wine  might  be  eaten  and  drunk 
after  nightfall,  excepting  on  the  occasion  of  the 
great  day  of  Atonement,  when  even  children  were 
to  be  induced,  if  possible,  to  fast. 

The  annual  fasts,  and  those  specially  proclaimed 
in  times  of  drought,  pestilence,  or  public  calamity, 
do  not  appear  to  have  been  observed  by  the 
Hasaya,  although  the  frugality  of  their  ordinary 
habits  might  well  be  contrasted  with  the  intemper- 
ance of  other  sects  during  the  great  feasts.  Rabbi 
Jeshua  claimed  such  independence  for  his  disciples, 
on  the  ground  that  the  new  expected  order  dis- 
pensed with  the  traditional  observances  authorised 
by  the  Sanhedrim.  His  maxim  was  couched  in 
language  which  resembles  that  used  at  a  later 
period  by  the  famous  Rabbi  Meier.  "  Look  not  at 
the  flask,  but  at  that  which  is  therein,"  said  Rabbi 
Meier,  "  for  there  are  new  flasks  full  of  old  wine  ; 
and  old  flasks  which  have  not  even  new  wine  in 


I08  RABBI  JESIIUA. 

them."  A  somewhat  similar  figure  of  Rabbi 
Jeshua's  is  recorded,  to  the  effect  that  the  strong 
wine  of  a  freshly  fermenting  enthusiasm  might  not 
be  safely  trusted  in  the  old  flask  of  an  effete  formal- 
ism, lest  it  should  burst  out  and  be  spilled. 

jij2,i/i<j  The  abuse  of  the  power  of  divorce — which 
remained  as  little  restricted  as  in  the  primitive  age 
of  Moses,  was  also  undoubtedly  a  crying  evil  of  the 
day.  Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  domestic 
life  of  the  modern  Jews  of  the  East,  will  know  how 
prejudicial  an  influence  to  the  happiness  of  women 
is  the  constant  terror  of  capricious  divorce,  with  its 
consequent  separation  from  child  and  home.  The 
condemnation  of  such  conduct  which  Rabbi  Jeshua 
pronounced  was  sweeping  and  unqualified.  He 
agreed,  it  is  true,  with  the  school  of  Shammai, 
against  that  of  Hillel,  in  allowing  only  one  reason 
as  justifying  divorce,  but  his  argument  was  founded 
on  the  words  of  the  earliest  dictum  of  the  Law : 
"  Therefore  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  his 
mother  and  cleave  unto  his  wife." 

i  rUrv^  No  less  delicate  was  the  question  of  paying 
tribute  to  foreign  and  heathen  rulers,  among  a  race 
whose  sacred  literature  belonged  mainly  to  a 
time  when  they  had  enjoyed  independence.  The 
Herodian  party  with  whom  the  Pharisees  were  in 
league,  and  the  Sadducees  who  had  accepted  the 


SAYINGS   OF   RABBI   JESIiUA.  IC9 

rule  of  the  Romans,  were  alike  interested  in  a  settle- 
ment of  this  question  which  might  reconcile  their 
consciences  with  their  practice ;  but  the  fierce 
Zealots  of  Galilee,  who  refused  to  recognise  any 
king,  Hebrew  or  heathen,  native  or  foreign,  save 
only  Jehovah  Himself,  were  the  compatriots  of 
Rabbi  Jeshua,  who  might  reasonably  be  suspected 
to  share  their  sentiments.  The  Hasaya,  however, 
■were  a  peaceful  people,  who  sought  to  solve 
questions  in  which  religious  principles  clashed  with 
political  expedience,  by  retreat  to  the  seclusion  of 
the  desert,  rather  than  by  violent  revolutionary 
attempts ;  and  in  consequence  of  this  spirit  Rabbi 
Jeshua  safely  escaped  the  snares  of  his  crafty 
enemies,  when  they  endeavoured  to  entangle  him 
into  a  declaration  of  rebellion  against  the  existing 
rule  of  the  Caesar. 

Yet  more  offensive  in  the  eyes  of  the  Pharisees 
was  the  neglect  of  ceremonial  purifications  on  the 
part  of  the  followers  of  Rabbi  Jeshua.  Tradition 
prescribed  that  half  a  wineglassful  of  water  (and 
no  more)  should  be  poured  on  the  hands  before 
meals.  It  mattered  not  that  frequent  and  copious 
ablutions  were  used  by  the  followers  of  the 
Hasaya,  for  in  the  eyes  of  the  Pharisees  those 
who  neglected  this  simply  ceremonial  purification 
were  as  unclean  as  though  they  had    touched   a 


no  RABBI  JESHUA. 

house  smitten  with  leprosy,  or  had  held  in  their 
hands  a  sacred  copy  of  the  Law ;  for  by  some 
extraordinary  process  of  reasoning  the  contact  of  a 
scroll  written  in  the  sacred  characters  was  con- 
sidered to  necessitate  a  similarly  infinitesimal 
cleansing  of  the  hands. 

In  most  of  these  questions  Rabbi  Jeshua  was 
jyJ^^fKv  directly  opposed  to  the  great  traditional  schools  of 
the  Pharisees  ;  yet  could  he  not,  on  the  other  hand, 
be  classed  among  their  adversaries  the  Sadducees  ; 
for  while  he  denounced,  with  vehemence  and  con- 
tempt, the  hollow  formalism  and  hypocrisy  of 
those  who,  in  following  the  letter,  had  forgotten 
the  spirit  of  the  Law,  he  equally  condemned  the 
materialism  of  their  Sadducean  opponents  and 
held  firmly  the  belief  which  characterized  the 
Hasaya  that  "the  immortal  souls  of  men  im- 
prisoned in  their  bodies  should  when  released  from 
their  bondage  mount  upwards  with  joy."  Yet  in 
combating  the  grotesque  ideas  of  the  followers  of 
Sadok  and  Boethus,  Rabbi  Jeshua  could  find  no 
text  in  the  Pentateuch  on  which  to  base  his  belief, 
rct^</i  tM/^  ^j^(£  j^jg  argument  is  worthy  rather  of  the  subtle 
...-  casuistry    of    the    Pharisees    than    of    the    noble 

I  simplicity  of  his   other   expositions  of  Scripture. 

The  maxim  of  Antigonus  of  Sochoh  was  indeed,  in 
this  matter,  more  admirable  than  anything  which 


SAYINGS  OF  RABBI  JESIIUA.  Ill 

was  said  later  respecting  that  doctrine  of  future 
punishment  and  reward  which  had  been  gradually- 
introduced  into  the  Jewish  moral  system. 

"  Be  not,"  said  the  successor  of  Simon  the  Just, 
"■  as  servants  who  serve  their  master  for  reward,  but 
be  as  servants  who  serve  without  regard  to  recom- 
pense." 

The  views  which  have  thus  been  briefly  noticed 
as  expressed  in  the  maxims  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  were 
enunciated  from  time  to  time  as  occasions  pre- 
sented themselves  or  questions  were  asked.  Pro- 
found as  was  his  knowledge  of  the  Law,  his  utter-  OJisxjai-' 
ances  were  fragmentary,  and  without  connection,  >t*^**-*c< 
and  no  great  ethical  system,  no  strikingly  novel 
views  of  morality,  nothing,  in  short,  beyond  the 
teaching  of  the  Law  of  Moses  as  studied  according 
to  its  original  spirit,  is  found  in  the  sayings  of 
Rabbi  Jeshua. 

Noble  and  clear  as  were  his  words,  it  was  not  on 
his  teaching  that  his  fame  rested  in  his  lifetime, 
and  it  was  the  triumph  of  Messiah,  not  the  develop- 
ment of  a  new  religious  system,  which  formed  the 
true  ambition  of  his  career. 

Some  attempt  has  been  made  in  the  Jerusalem 
chronicle   to  present  an  epitome  of    the  teaching 
of  Rabbi  Jeshua  in  the  form  of  a  pretended  exhor-    r^;j/rv*A««. 
tation  delivered  on  the  mountains  near  Tiberias ;  '^  ^'S^ 

(5'VX  fc-  ^ 


112  RABBI  JESHUA. 

but  no  such  sermon  occurs  in  the  artless  narrative 
of  Simeon,  and  in  the  chronicle  of  Rabbi  Saul  it 
is  cut  into  sections,  and  distributed  over  various 
occasions.  The  teaching  is,  moreover,  coloured  in 
each  account  by  the  peculiar  views  of  the  writers ; 
and  while  there  is  nothing  that  is  irreconcilable 
with  the  tenets  of  the  Hasaya,  there  is  in  the 
Jerusalem  chronicle  a  tone  of  Pharisaic  narrowness, 
and  in  the  work  of  Rabbi  Saul  a  leaven  of  heathen 
latitudinarianism  which  suggest  a  late  origin  for 
many  maxims  attributed  to  Rabbi  Jeshua. 

In  the  same  manner  a  prayer  is  mentioned  by 

L  Ow^ji '  these  writers  which  the  Master,  like  other  rabbis, 

"  i'W    is  said  to  have  taught  to  his  pupils.     It  contains 


>*^/^» 


^ 


a   petition   for   the   coming   of  Messiah,  and  ex- 
presses  the   simple  desires  of  the  meek  Hasaya. 
Possibly   it   is   a   genuine   record   of   the   Rabbi's 
devotions ;    but    Simeon    does    not    notice    it    as 
having  been   composed    by   his    master,   and   the 
common  superstitious  belief  in  an  evil  power  seek- 
ing to  injure  the  pious,  occurs  at  the  close  of  the 
prayer.     Not  improbably,  therefore,  the  production 
of  a  later   disciple   has   been   here   attributed   to 
Rabbi  Jeshua. 
_^The  time-honoured  and  wise  device  of  present- 
'^&fU  ^-  ^"^  ^  familiar  and  homely  parallel  to  those  whose 
^       powers   of   thought    are    limited    by    the   narrow 


SAYINGS   OF   RABBI  JESIIUA.  II3 

perspective  of  a  deficient  education,  has  com- 
mended itself  to  all  who  have  sought  to  sway  the 
lowest  class,  and  who  have  understood  the  ex- 
istence of  that  fund  of  mother  wit  which  charac- 
terises the  intelligence  of  the  simple  and  illiterate. 

From  the  common  sights  of  a  country  life,  from 
the  ordinary  actions  of  the  fishers  of  the  lake  and 
the  tillers  of  the  fields,  Rabbi  Jeshua  drew  the 
imagery  of  his  fables  ;  and  to  the  springing  of  the 
harvest,  or  the  luxuriant  growth  of  the  wild  herbs 
of  the  wilderness,  he  likened  the  silent  preparation 
with  which,  through  exhortation  and  doctrine,  he 
aimed  at  making  all  men  ready  for  the  great 
advent  of  the  Messiah. 

In  the  use  of  such  fables  on  the  part  of  Rabbi 
Jeshua,  there  was,  however,  nothing  specially  ori- 
ginal or  remarkable  From  the  days  when  Jotham, 
on  the  summit  of  Gerizim,  contemptuously  likened 
his  murderous  brother  Abimelech  to  the  bramble 
who  was  king  in  Lebanon  ;  from  the  time  when 
Joash,  king  of  Israel,  replied  to  his  rival  of  Judah 
with  the  celebrated  sarcasm,  "there  came  by  a 
wild  beast  that  was  in  Lebanon,  and  trode  down 
the  thistle,"  the  use  of  parables  had  been  familiar 
to  the  Jewish  mind.  The  answer  which  Hillcl 
gave  to  those  who  questioned  the  authority  of 
tradition   was   not  unworthy  of  Socrates  himself, 

I 


114  RABBI  JESITUA. 

I  "How  knowest  thou,"  he  said,  "that  this  is  an 
Aleph,  and  this  a  Beth?"  "Because,"  said  his 
assailant,  "  we  have  so  learned  from  our  teachers 
and  forefathers."  "  If  thou  acceptedst  this  in 
faith,"  said  Hillel,  "  so  also  accept  the  traditions  of 
the  Law." 

The  old  story  of  the  clever  fox  and  his  dull-witted 
dupe  the  bear  is  to  be  found  among  the  sayings  of 
the  famous  fabulist.  Rabbi  Meier  ;  the  very  tales 
which  we  tell  to  our  children  in  England  are  in 
some  cases  borrowed — like  many  of  our  supersti- 
tions— from  the  Jews.  The  son  of  Sirach  attributes 
subtle  and  dark  parables  to  the  wise  ;  and  a  saying 
of  Rabbi  Tarphon,  closely  resembling  one  of  the 
recorded  similes  of  Rabbi  Jeshua,  has  been  pre- 
served in  these  words  :  "  The  day  is  short,  the 
labour  is  mighty ;  the  labourers  are  slothful ;  yet 
the  reward  is  great,  and  the  master  of  the  house 
presseth  for  despatch."  Or,  in  the  words  of  Rabbi 
Jeshua's  simile,  "  The  harvest  truly  is  plenteous, 
but  the  labourers  are  few." 

While  thus  indicating  the  points  of  similarity 
or  of  contrast  between  the  views  of  Rabbi  Jeshua 
and  those  of  his  <;ontemporaries  ;  and  while  point- 
ing out  that  his  teaching  was  not  so  much  original 
as  purely  representative  of  the  true  spirit  of  the 
Law  of  Mose.s,  we  have  for  the  moment  left  out  of 


SAYINGS   OF   RABBI  JESIiUA.  II  5 

consideration  the  claim  Avhich  the  Rabbi  advanced 
to  the  character  of  the  expected  Messiah.  But 
this  pretension  undoubtedly  formed  the  cardinal 
difference  between  himself  and  every  other  rabbi 
of  his  times. 

]\Iore  than  one  Messiah  had  appeared  at  this 
epoch  of  Jewish  history,  Judas  of  Golan,  the  fierce 
Zealot,  whose  unconquerable  love  of  freedom 
brought  destruction  on  his  followers  ;  Theudas,  the 
false  prophet,  who  undertook,  like  Elisha,  to  strike 
the  waters  of  Jordan,  that  his  adherents  might  pass 
over  dryshod,  were  both  the  contemporaries  of 
Rabbi  Jeshua.  Like  him,  they  fell  victims  to 
their  zeal  for  a  revival  of  national  independence : 
yet  unlike  him,  on  the  other  hand,  they  expected 
by  their  own  power,  rather  than  by  aid  of  divine 
interposition,  to  attain  the  great  aims  of  their 
lives. 

As  regards  the  claims  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  to  be 
recognised  as  the  expected  Messiah,  we  have  to  take 
into  consideration  the  embarrassing  circumstance 
that  the  chroiiicle  which  we  possess  was  written 
long  after  the  death  of  the  Rabbi.  It  is  extremely 
difficult  accurately  to  estimate  the  effect  —  con- 
scious or  unconscious — on  the  writer,  of  the  actual 
development  of  events.  It  is  possible  that  the 
predictions    attributed    to   the   Rabbi    may    have 


Il6  RABEI  JESIIUA. 

been  materially  enlarged  or  modified,  in  accor- 
dance with  the  subsequent  facts :  that  with  the 
ordinary  licence  of  Oriental  literature,  so-called 
prophecies,  never  actually  uttered,  may  have  been 
inserted  into  the  narrative,  and  that  minute  de- 
tails may  have  obtained  an  unnatural  importance 
through  the  supposed  connection  which  they  may 
have  had  with  the  fulfilment  of  Scriptural  pro- 
phecies. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  clear  that  Rabbi  Jeshua 
could  not  have  done  otherwise  than  expect  oppo- 
sition and  hatred  from  the  Pharisees,  who  had 
already  accused  him  of  sorcery  ;  or  from  the  Sad- 
ducees,  whose  chiefs  held  the  reins  of  that  power 
which  he  aimed  at  destroying.  The  foresight  of 
his  genius  must  inevitably  have  suggested  that 
nothing  but  trouble,  suffering,  and  defeat  was 
likely  to  attend  his  efforts,  unless  assisted  by  some 
supernatural  interference. 

By  such  forebodings  Rabbi  Jeshua's  conceptions 
of  the  character  and  career  of  the  Messiah  seem  to 
have  been  influenced,  and  by  such  facts  the  state- 
ments of  his  chronicler  seem  to  be  unmistakably 
,         ,   affected.     Many   passages   of  Scripture  to  which 
^7/s-  the  Jews  usually  attached  no  meaning  connected 
►J^ti^^ct*"With  the  Messiah  were  considered  by  Rabbi  Jeshua 
...  H-fj^^'  and  his  followers  to  foreshadow  a  period  of  suffer- 


SAYINGS   OF   RABBI  JESIIUA.  11/ 

ing  and  humiliation  to  be  undergone  by  the 
Anointed  One  before  the  day  of  his  final  triumph. 

"  He  came  unto  his  own,  and  they  received  him 
not."  " He  was  despised  and  rejected  of  men."  "He 
was  numbered  with  the  transgressors."  Such  were 
the  sayings  which  his  disciples  brought  forward, 
as  explaining  the  ill-success  of  their  Master,  and 
the  incredulity  of  the  nation  respecting  his  mission. 
It  was  a  common  belief  that  Messiah  should  be 
concealed  for  a  time  on  earth,  and  recognised  only 
in  the  day  of  his  final  triumph  over  the  world ; 
and  after  his  death  his  sorrowful  followers  ad- 
duced, in  evidence  of  the  certain  fulfilment  of  their 
fond  expectation  of  his  return,  that  wonderful 
passage  which  tradition  ascribed  to  the  pen  of 
Isaiah,  in  which  the  servant  of  the  Lord  is  repre- 
sented as  sacrificed  for  the  sins  of  others,  and  as 
finally  obtaining  a  portion  with  the  great. 

It  has,  however,  been  already  pointed  out  that 
such  a  conception  of  the  career  of  the  Messiah  was 
entirely  contrary  to  the  general  expectation  of  the 
nation  ;  and  in  many  other  particulars  the  views  of 
Rabbi  Jeshua  as  to  the  Anointed  One  were 
equally  peculiar.  The  expectation  that  Elias  must 
precede  Messiah  was  easily  reconciled  with  the 
previous  career  of  the  prophet  Hanan  ;  but  the 
doctrine  that  the  future  King  was  to  be  the  son 


Il8  RABBI  JESHUA. 

of  David  was  not  so  easily  explained  as  referring 
to  Rabbi  Jeshua. 

At  a  later  period  fictitious  genealogies  were 
constructed,  which  traced  a  descent  from  David 
down  to  Joseph  the  father  of  Rabbi  Jeshua ;  but 
these  genealogies,  which  are  entirely  discordant 
among  themselves,  were  never  recognised  by  the 
true  followers  of  the  great  Rabbi — the  Hasaya  and 
the  Abionim.  It  is  probable  that  the  house  of 
David  had  become  extinct  centuries  before  the 
time  of  which  we  treat,  and  it  is  certain  that  Rabbi 
Jeshua  himself  never  claimed  a  royal  descent. 
His  only  recorded  utterance  on  this  subject  was 
clearly  directed  against  such  a  theory.  "  How  say 
the  Scribes  that  Messiah  shall  be  the  son  of  David  ? 
for  David  calls  him  Lord,  how  then  can  he  be  his 
son  ? "  Such  was  the  rabbinic  logic  whereby  he 
attained  to  a  conclusion~eiitIrely  at  variance  with 
the  deductions  of  the  Pharisees  from  the  later 
prophecies  of  the  sacred  books.  And  in  the  pro- 
phetic passage  before  mentioned,  to  which  Rabbi 
Jeshua  and  his  followers  were  the  first  to  attach  a 
Messianic  interpretation,  occurs  the  appropriate 
exclamation,  "  Who  shall  declare  his  generation  .-'  " 

The  title  by  which  Rabbi  Jeshua  most  com- 
monly called  himself  was  one  which  was  generally 
supposed  to  have  a  Messianic  meaning  when  oc- 


SAYINGS  OF   RABDI  JESHUA.  II9 

curring  in  the  Psalms,  or  in  the  book  of  Daniel — a 
work  which  (whenever  it  may  have  been  composed) 
had  certainly  attained  to  great  authority  by  the 
time  of  which  we  now  treat.  This  title  "  Son  of 
Man"  occurs  moreover  frequently  in  that  pro- 
phecy to  which  Rabbi  Jeshua  attached  special 
importance,  and  the  only  mark  of  his  habitual 
assumption  of  the  Messianic  dignity  lies  in  the  fre- 
quent recurrence  of  this  self-description. 

As  regarded  the  future  of  the  heathen  in  the 
expected  kingdom  the  views  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  were 
broad  and  charitable,  yet  founded  on  authority. 
To  the  Messiah  the  Gentiles  were  to  seek  according 
to  Isaiah,  and  many  were  the  passages  of  Scripture 
which  might  be  quoted,  as  showing  that  they  had 
their  share — though  in  a  subordinate  position — in 
the  triumph  of  the  future. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  Rabbi  Jeshua 
and  his  followers  were  in  expectation  of  an  im- 
mediately impending  change  in  the  condition  of 
the  chosen  race.  It  was  to  no  dim  future  that 
they  looked  forward :  the  kingdom  was  on  the  eve 
of  its  creation,  the  Messiah  was  at  the  door.  They 
charged  men  indeed  to  keep  secret  the  benefits 
which  they  had  received  from  the  physician,  for  he 
was  yet  in  concealment,  and  the  hour  had  not 
struck  ;  but  it  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  day  by 


I20  RABBI   JESHUA. 

day,  week  by  week,  they  anxiously  scanned  the  signs 
of  the  times,  waiting  and  watching  in  hope  that 
the  hour  must  come  when  by  divine  interposition 
the  claims  of  their  Master  would  be  established. 

For  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that,  hke  all 
Orientals,  Rabbi  Jeshua  was  what  is  called  in  the 
West  a  fatalist  He  was  not,  as  some  would  have 
us  to  believe,  a  philosopher  profoundly  pondering  a 
moral  and  ethical  system.  He  was  not,  as  others 
tell  us,  a  revolutionist  or  a  socialist  stirring  up  class 
against  class,  and  marshalling  the  mob  against  the 
powers  of  the  realm.  Not  a  politician  scheming 
for  a  national  revival  and  the  expulsion  of  the 
foreigner.  Not  a  mystic  plunged  in  deep  specula- 
tions on  the  transcendental  significance  of  holy 
writ.  An  enthusiast  we  may  perhaps  call  him,  in 
the  sense  in  which  every  Oriental  is  one,  namely 
inasmuch  as  he  had  some  strong  beliefs,  was 
really  actuated  by  religious  convictions,  and  had 
that  capacity  for  faith  which  seems  so  rarely  to 
develop  in  the  Western  mind  ;  but  in  the  sense  in 
which  enthusiasm  is  understood  among  ourselves, 
as  a  term  of  reproach  rather  than  otherwise,  as 
denoting  one  whose  judgment  in  the  common 
events  of  life  is  vitiated  by  a  strong  ruling  motive 
or  belief,  in  such  a  sense  Rabbi  Jeshua  was  not 
even  an  enthusiast. 


SAYINGS  OF  RABBI  JESHUA.  121 

Firmly  believing  in  his  claim  to  be  considered 
the  future  Messiah,  he  yet  never  attempted  to 
assert  his  right  to  kingly  dignity.  Profoundly 
conscious  of  the  dangers  which  would  surround 
him  at  the  capital,  he  yet  went  forward  without 
hesitation  to  meet  his  fate.  Rejected  and  despised, 
he  yet  remained  full  of  confidence  and  faith.  How 
can  we  account  for  such  apparent  contradictions, 
save  on  the  supposition  that  Rabbi  Jeshua  fully 
expected  a  supernatural  manifestation  in  his  favour 
to  be  on  the  eve  of  occurrence .-'  The  hour  would 
strike,  the  day  would  dawn,  and  the  long  trial  of 
faith  and  patience  would  come  to  a  triumphal  con- 
clusion. Full  of  such  hope  Rabbi  Jeshua  and  his 
faithful  few  awaited  the  future,  and  in  the  confidence 
of  a  fatalistic  belief  he  went  forth  to  his  doom. 

The  same  fundamental  difficulty  in  truly  appre- 
ciating the  motives  and  expectations  of  the  followers 
of  Rabbi  Jeshua  confronts  us  in  every  incident  of 
his  career.  It  is  a  difficulty  perhaps  more  con- 
spicuously evident  in  the  writings  of  those  profound 
German  scholars  who  claim  to  be  the  best  expositors 
of  the  subject  than  in  the  works  of  more  modest 
critics.  A  difficulty  which  the  modern  politician 
experiences  not  less  than  the  student  of  antiquity 
namely  the  incomprehensibility  of  Oriental  thought 
to  the  mind  of  the  educated  European. 


122  RABBI  JESHUA. 

Deep  and  broad  indeed  is  the  line  which  divides 
the  free  intellect  of  the  West  from  the  reverent  spirit 
of  the  East.  It  is  the  contrast  of  the  silence  of 
Oriental  noon  with  the  fresh  breath  of  the  eddying 
breezes  of  the  sombre  North.  Nursed  on  the  toss- 
ing billows  of  our  stormy  oceans,  battling  day  by 
day  with  the  forces  of  nature,  the  wild  Norseman 
learned  that  hardy  independence  of  spirit  which 
made  him  the  equal  of  his  jovial  gods ;  but  in  the 
quietude  of  a  sultry  clime  the  Hebrew  learned  only 
that  passive  submission  to  destiny  which  is  the  key- 
note of  a  fatalistic  creed.  The  "  derring  do  "  of  the 
Northman,  the  "  Kismet "  of  the  Arab,  are  equally 
characteristic  of  the  tone  of  their  respective  natures. 

Thus  when  we  compare  the  East  with  the  West 
we  find  submission  taking  the  place  of  self-reliance, 
veneration  of  self-esteem.  For  freedom  we  find 
obedience,  for  inquiry  tradition,  for  love  fear,  for 
the  future  the  past,  for  the  ideal  hero  the  perfect 
servant  of  God,  for  free-will  fatalism. 

Among  Jewish  sects  the  Hasaya  especially  were 
conspicuous  as  fatalists.  Rabbi  Jeshua  has  been 
depicted  by  modern  writers  as  a  Greek  philosopher 
a  French  poet,  a  German  mystic,  an  English  Chris- 
tian ;  but  in  the  rude  chronicle  of  Simeon  has 
W  Saddik,  he  is  presented  in  his  true  character  as  a 
'U    Hebrew  fatalist  and  an  Oriental  prophet ;  and  it  is 


SAYINGS  OF  RABBI  JESHUA.  1 23 

thus  that,  after  clearing  our  minds  from  the  influence 
of  Western  idiosyncrasies  and  modern  thought,  we 
should  strive  to  regard  him,  according  to  the  expres- 
sive hyperbole  of  the  ^ebrevv  tongue,  as  "  the  Slave 
of  God" 

dS^oLSf  iKSi^  C9p  irtih  ^'      "    ^  ''    "" 


zC^i^jf:^  X  i^  ^  f^? .  ><^5^-^ 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   DEATH   OF   RABBI  JESHUA. 

Savanarola— A  parallel— The  road  to  Jerusalem— The  pro- 
cession— Revolutionary  acts — Conflict  with  the  authori- 
ties— Presage  of  defeat — The  Passover — The  arrest— The 
trial — False  accusation  and  condemnation — The  popular 
revulsion — The  execution — Burial  of  Rabbi  Jeshua — The 
empty  sepulchre. 

On  the  23rd  of  May,  1498,  being  the  vigil  of  the 
Ascension  of  St.  Mark,  the  fierce  and  brutal  Floren- 
tine crowd  was  gathered  round  the  great  cross- 
shaped  gallows  in  the  middle  of  the  huge  pile  of 
faggots,  where  the  bodies  of  the  noble  Savanarola 
and  his  two  disciples  were  burning  after  their  cruel 
execution  in  the  great  piazza  of  the  city. 

Tried  as  a  false  prophet  but  without  evidence 
being  found  against  him  ;  silent  under  the  accusa- 
tions of  his  enemies  ;  taunted  by  the  rabble  because 
no  divine  interposition  saved  him  from  his  fate ; 
tortured  by  his  executioners,  and  his  body  finally 
carried  away  so  that  no  tomb  is  now  to  be  found 


THE   DEATH   OF   RABBI  JESHUA.  I25 

covering  his  remains,  the  once  venerated  teacher  of 
his  ungrateful  countrymen  suffered  the  ignominious 
death  which  has  testified  ever  since  to  the  purity  of 
his  life.  Among  the  sins  of  that  proud  and  lux- 
urious city  none  is  recorded  darker  or  more  sad 
than  the  martyrdom  of  her  patriotic  preacher 
Savanarola. 

A  parallel  between  historic  episodes  of  Oriental 
and  Western  history  is  as  a  rule  unsatisfactory, 
because  of  the  race  contrast*\vhich  has  been  touched 
on  in  the  preceding  chapter.  Yet  if  we  were  to 
seek  in  Europe  for  a  character  somewhat  reproduc- 
ing that  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  we  should  probably  find 
none  which  more  closely  approached  it  than  that  of 
the  great  Florentine  reformer. 

Commencing  his  career  as  a  preacher  of  ascetic 
habits,  inveighing  against  the  corruption  of  the 
Church  and  the  luxury  of  the  rich,  he  went  through 
his  life  in  complete  confidence  of  the  heaven-sent 
nature  of  his  mission.  He  claimed  to  be  able  to 
predict  the  future,  and  is  said  to  have  prophesied 
his  own  fate  before  the  tide  of  popular  feeling 
turned  against  him.  His  power  over  the  masses 
was  due  to  the  austerity  of  his  life.  He  inculcated 
obedience  to  the  lawful  commands  of  the  Church, 
and  his  enemies  were  never  able  to  convict  him  of 
heresy.      His  influence  reached  its  greatest  height 


126  RABBI  JESHUA. 

in  Florence  immediately  before  his  death,  when  the 
famous  burning  of  the  Vanitd  was  enthusiastically 
undertaken  by  the  populace,  at  his  command. 

His  fall  was  due  to  the  overpowering  strength 
of  the  great  ecclesiastical  system  which  he  attacked, 
and  to  the  enmity  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  whom 
he  nevertheless  acknowledged  as  head  of  the 
Church.  During  his  career  he  showed  a  marvellous 
power  of  persuading  the  lower  classes ;  yet  in  the 
end  a  fearful  revulsionsof  mob  caprice  ensured  his 
doom,  and  the  people  whom  he  had  loved  and 
taught,  and  saved  from  gross  sin  and  degradation, 
turned  fiercely  upon  him  with  the  savage  cry, 
"  His  blood  be  upon  us,  and  on  our  children." 

These  words  which  describe  the  career  and  the 
fate  of  Savanarola,  might  be  applied  almost  with- 
out alteration  to  Rabbi  Jeshua.  Yet  there  was 
between  them  still  the  contrast  of  the  two  races 
to  which  they  each  belonged ;  for  while  Savanarola 
from  a  political  aspect  was  distinguished  as  a 
successful  statesman,  Rabbi  Jeshua's  political  pro- 
gramme was  entirely  summed  up  in  his  assumption 
of  the  character  of  the  Messiah. 

It  was  on  Palm  Sunday  that  Savanarola,  in  1498, 
entered  the  gloomy  prison  whence  he  only  went 
out  again  to  his  doom.  It  was  on  another  Palm 
Sunday,  more  than  fourteen  centuries  earlier,  that 


THE   DEATH   OF   RABBI  JESHUA.  12/ 

Rabbi  Jeshua  first  reached  the  fortress  city  where 
his  cruel  fate  awaited  him.  By  the  white  road 
which  runs  round  the  southern  slope  of  chalky 
Olivet,  the  small  band  of  Galilean  pilgrims  ap- 
proached the  Holy  City.  It  was  the  lovely  season 
of  the  Passover,  when  cool  breezes,  and  blue  skies 
dappled  with  fleecy  clouds,  prevailed  over  the 
"King's  Mountain."  The  flowers  of  the  field 
which  Rabbi  Jeshua  loved,  and  from  which  he 
drew  his  glorious  similes  of  faith  and  humility, 
were  springing  beside  the  path  and  clothing  the 
dusty  slopes.  The  red  anemone,  more  beautiful  than 
Solomon  in  all  his  glory,  the  great  purple  iris, 
the  lily  of  the  valleys,  the  white  narcissus,  the 
rose  of  Sharon,  the  blushing  phloxes,  coloured  like 
the  faint  tint  of  the  Eastern  afterglow,  which  Rabbi 
Jeshua  likened  to  the  dawn  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  covered  with  a  variegated  carpet  the  stony 
Mount  of  Anointing,  and  hung  in  clusters  over  the 
gloomy  valley  of  Gehenna.  The  breeze  rustled 
through  the  dark  olives  of  the  garden  of  Geth- 
shemen,  sending  waves  of  silver  rippling  through 
the  groves,  and  in  the  silence  of  Eastern  noon 
the  distant  hum  of  the  crowded  city  was  wafted 
across  the  deep  ravine  of  Kidron. 

It  was  from  this  white  mountain  path  that  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem  first  met  the  eyes  of  the  band 


(  128  RABBI  JESHUA. 

5^T^pf  the  Hasaya  as  they  halted  at  the  turn  of  the 
descending  road.  The  huge  square  facade  of  the 
Holy  House,  blazing  with  plates  of  gold,  and  hung 
with  the  gigantic  vine  bunches  over  the  mystic 
veil,  rose  high  above  the  marble  colonnades  of 
Herod's  enclosure,  and  above  the  ancient  ramparts 
of  Solomon  and  Nehemiah.  The  great  rock  of 
Antonia,  with  its  crenelated  battlements,  guarded 
the  fane  on  the  north.  The  domes  of  the  houses, 
the  narrow  shady  lanes,  the  hippodrome,  the  royal 
palaces,  the  synagogues,  the  great  towers  west  of 
the  town,  the  waving  trees  of  Herod's  garden,  the 
white  sepulchres  to  the  north,  the  conspicuous 
monument  of  the  kings  of  Judah  :  all  these  famous 
buildings,  often  described  by  travellers  to  the  simple 
J'u^^l  Galilean  peasants,  were  now  for  the  first  time 
r,  'J  C^t  actually  visible  to  their  eyes,  and  it  was  with 
'^  ff^'  feelings  of  awe  and  admiration  that  they  beheld  the 
great  stones  of  the  Temple  walls,  the  carved 
friezes  of  the  sepulchral  monuments,  the  impreg- 
nable citadel  of  the  upper  city.  To  the  Roman 
or  the  Greek,  fresh  from  the  wondrous  cities  of  his 
native  land,  the  little  town  may  have  appeared 
mean  and  ugly,  its  architecture  tasteless,  its 
public  works  insignificant  ;  but  to  the  Galilean, 
who  came  from  the  mud  huts  of  Capharnahum  or 
the  reed  cabins  of  Jordan,  such  splendour  indeed 


THE   DEATH   OF   RABBI  JESHUA.  1 29 

justified  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Psalmist,  even 
as  the  Land  of  Promise  had  of  old  appeared  to  the 
wanderers  of  the  desert  to  be  indeed  a  country 
flowing  with  milk  and  honey. 

From  the  slope  of  Olivet  the  throngs  within  the 
Temple  courts  were  plainly  visible.  The  crowds 
of  worshippers,  the  animals  led  to  sacrifice,  the 
bands  of  barefooted  priests  could  be  seen ;  and  in 
the  booths  to  the  east  beneath  the  cloisters  the 
changers  of  money,  and  the  sellers  of  sacrifices 
for  the  poor,  had  their  recognised  place  outside  the 
limit  of  that  sacred  court  which  no  Gentile  might 
enter. 

It  was  the  first  day  of  the  new  year  which  was  '  ^T^ f^ 
being  celebrated.      The   great    beacon   was    that  .       /.    //. 
night  to  be  lighted  on  Olivet,  to  announce  by  a      -,*-/) 
chain   of  bonfires   to   the   exiles   in   Assyria    the  '"^ 

appearance  of  the  new  moon  m  Jerusalem.     The     /  ^ 
witnesses    crowded    in    the    Beth    Yenezek    had  '     ^ 

been  examined  by  the  Sanhedrim,  and  had  testi- 
fied to  the  appearance  of  the  slender  crescent 
above  their  heads.  The  month  had  been  pro- 
nounced sanctified,  the  great  ram's-horns  had  been 
blown,  the  wood  offering  offered,  the  tender  palm- 
spathes  from  the  groves  of  Jericho  were  borne  by 
the  citizens  in  triumph. 

The  fame  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  had  preceded  him. 

K 


130  RABBI  JESHUA. 

It  was  known  that  the  Galilean  prophet  was  oi\ 
his  way  from  Jericho,  and  the  curious  crowds 
awaited  the  arrival  of  the  little  procession  with 
eagerness.  The  disciples  sent  on  before  pressed 
into  the  service  of  their  weary  master  the  first 
beast  they  found,  and  the  simple  claim,  "  for  the 
service  of  God,"  was  easily  admitted  by  the  devout 
'  owner. 

In  triumph,  then,  the  Hasaya  advanced  to  the 
city.     The  palms  plucked  in  honour  of  the  new 
year,  destined  to  be    laid  upon   the  roof  of  the 
Temple  cloisters,  were  borne   in   procession ;    the 
day  of  victory  appeared  at  length  to  have  dawned, 
and    the   fatalistic  expectations  of  Rabbi  Jeghua 
seemed  on  the  eve  of  fulfilment. 
,  t^  /^'     There  was  nothing  unusual  in  the  approach  of  a 
^  '*'"*^"  pilgrim  band  at  the  Passover  season  singing  psalms 
PiU^-o^'of  pious  triumph ;    nothing  very  alarming  in  the 
'  ^T       popular  enthusiasm  at  first  sight.     But  there  were 
/-'-'        cries  heard   by  priests    and   rulers  as  the   crowd 
-a-r  neared  the  gate,  which  foreboded  a  religious  dis- 

turbance of  most  serious  character. 

In  after  days  a  parallel  was  drawn  by  the  fol- 
lowers of  Rabbi  Jeshua  between  his  entry  and  that 
of  the  promised  Monarch,  whom  Zechariah  had 
described  as  coming  to  the  daughter  of  Zion 
"  lowly  and  riding  upon  an  ass,"  and  the  idea  of  a 


THE   DEATH   OF   RABBI   JESHUA.  I3I 

triumphal  entry  of  the  Messiah  was  present  to 
their  minds  even  on  that  day  when  first  they 
approached  Jerusalem. 

Many  among  the  Jewish  crowd  ventured  to  echo 
the  cries  of  the  Hasaya.  They  saluted  Rabbi 
Jeshua  by  the  title  Son  of  David,  which  to  them, 
but  not  to  the  Galileans,  was  synonymous  with 
that  of  Messiah.  They  cast  their  garments  (as 
men  still  do  before  Eastern  kings)  in  his  path,  and 
thus,  borne  on  the  crest  of  that  great  wave  of 
popular  enthusiasm.  Rabbi  Jeshua  entered  the  pre- 
cincts of  the  Temple,  followed  by  his  zealous  and 
fanatical  disciples.  ^  '■    /'    a. 

That  this  visit  was  the  first  which  he  had  everQ;.^^.^^^ 
paid  to  the  Jerusalem  Temple  is  plain  from  the 
events  which  followed.  The  Hasaya,- we  know, 
neglected  the  ordinary  ritual  of  sacrifice  and 
worship,  and  we  have  no  record  of  any  annual  .  s^l  ^ 
visits  paid  by  Rabbi  Jeshua  to  Jerusalem  whilst 
living  in  Galilee.  The  institution  of  regular  booths, 
whereat  the  change  for  the  Temple  tax  might  be 
obtained  and  sacrifices  bought,  was  a  recognised 
part  of  the  ritual.  These  shops  were  Avithout  the 
sacred  court,  in  the  cloisters  of  the  Gentiles ;  they 
were  recognised  by  the  Sanhedrim,  and  excited  no 
feeling  of  surprise  among  the  worshippers.  To  the 
Galileans,  however,  the  institution  of  a  cattle-market 


132  RABBI  JESHUA. 

within  the  Holy  Mountain  appeared  no  less  than  a 
desecration  of  the  Temple  ;  and  in  the  tumult  of 
religious  excitement,  which  had  arisen  with  the 
suddenness  that  characterises  all  popular  move- 
ments in  the  East,  the  fury  of  the  mob,  directed 
by  the  zeal  of  the  great  puritarr  prophet,  was  spent 
on  the  unhappy  traders  who  bartered  their  wares 
in  Solomon's  Porch. 

It  was  thus  that  the  popular  excitement  assuaged 
itself.  The  triumph  was  at  its  height,  and  the 
burning  of  the  Vanitd  by  the  Florentine  mob,  at 
the  bidding  of  Savanarola,  is  the  only  fitting 
parallel  to  the  scene  which  took  place  on  Rabbi 
Jeshua's  entry  into  the  Temple.  But,  like  Savana- 
rola, his  trial  and  death  followed  hard  on  the 
moment  of  his  greatest  popularity. 

The  booths  were  torn  down,  the  dove-coops 
tossed  over  the  walls,  the  unhappy  dealers, 
scourged  and  bleeding,  were  driven  out  of  the 
Temple  gates.  But  the  Hasaya  went  no  further  in 
their  zeal ;  they  took  no  part  in  the  services  of  the 
sanctuary,  and  they  left  the  worshippers  undis- 
turbed in  the  inner  courts.  Having  gazed  with 
awe  and  admiration  on  the  Holy  House,  they 
retreated  from  the  enclosure ;  the  outburst  of 
popular  fury  subsided,  the  crowd  dispersed,  and 
with  evening  Rabbi  Jeshua  retired  to  rest  in  the 


THE   DEATH   OF   RABBI  JESHUA.  1 33 

cool  shadow  of  the  olive  groves,  under  the  pale 
radiance  of  the  Passover  crescent.  A*9^  m^  tiuy<^*^r)r^^  < 

Thus,  then,  the  moment  of  triumph  passed  away, ' 
for  the  expectations  of  the  Hasaya  were  doomed 
to  disappointment.  The  popular  enthusiasm 
placed  in  the  hands  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  a  power 
which  a  vulgar  revolutionist  might  have  employed 
for  his  own  advancement,  but  which  to  a  fatalist 
devoutly  awaiting  the  interference  of  supernatural 
authority  was  a  sign  of  the  great  catastrophe,  to  be 
watched  and  followed,  rather  than  a  force  to  be 
guided  and  utilised.  Perhaps  in  the  first  heat  of 
the  popular  fury  the  Roman  tyranny  and  the 
sacerdotal  power  might  have  been,  at  least  for  a 
time,  overthrown  ;  but  Rabbi  Jeshua  paused  to 
debate  and  argue  while  the  mob  demanded  a 
leader,  and  thus  incurred  the  fate  which  ever 
awaits  the  idol  of  the  populace  when  once  the 
fickle  affection  of  the  crowd  is  diverted  in  a  new 
direction. 

The  emergency  appears  to  have  been  met  by 
the  priestly  party  with  presence  of  mind  and  con- 
summate tact.  To  acknowledge  a  Messiah  neither 
born  at  Bethlehem  nor  descended  from  David,  a 
peasant  of  Galilee  belonging  to  a  sect  of  doubtful 
orthodoxy,  was  so  plainly  contrary  to  the  whole 
system  of  traditional  exegesis  on  which  the  very 


134  RABBI  JESIIUA. 

idea  of  the  Anointed  King  was  based,  that  it  could 
have  never  for  a  moment  occurred  to  the  educated 
Jews  that  the  populace  were  right  in  their  impul- 
sive acceptance  of  the  newly  arrived  claimant. 
And  we  may  also  perhaps  doubt  whether  those  in 
power  would  have  found  themselves  ready  to 
accept  even  a  Messiah  of  indisputable  pretensions 
when  actually  appearing  among  them,  however 
sincere  might  be  their  aspirations  for  the  kingdom 
of  God,  while  yet  remaining  an  object  of  pious 
desire  in  the  dim  future  of  a  theoretical  millennium. 
The  Sanhedrim  rasolved  therefore  to  treat  the 
new  prophet  as  a  "refractory  elder"  inculcating 
heretical  doctrines  without  due  authority — an 
offence  for  which,  if  the  Rabbi  should  persist  in  his 
contumacy,  the  legal  punishment  was  death  by 
strangling  at  Jerusalem  and  on  a  holiday.  It  was, 
however,  a  matter  of  no  little  delicacy  to  undertake, 
for  two  reasons.  First,  that  the  love  of  the  peasantry 
of  Galilee  had  to  a  certain  extent  recommended 
Rabbi  Jeshua  to  the  turbulent  mob  of  Jerusalem. 
Secondly,  because,  however  bold  and  original  may 
have  been  the  character  of  his  doctrine,  it  could  not 
easily  be  shown  to  have  been  at  variance  with 
either  the  spirit  or  the  letter  of  the  Law.  When 
first  the  question  was  asked  by  the  priests  by  what 
authority  Rabbi  Jeshua  taught,  his  answer  was  in 


THE   DEATH   OF   RABBI  JESHUA.  1 35 

the  highest  degree  embarrassing,  for  while  an- 
nouncing himself  a  disciple  of  the  venerated  Hanan, 
he  also  boldly  intimated,  by  a  fable  of  unmistakable 
meaning,  his  opinion  that  the  days  of  the  existing 
hierarchy  were  numbered,  and  that  the  care  of  the 
vineyard  was  about  to  be  taken  from  them,  and 
given  to  those  more  faithful  husbandmen  who  were 
represented  by  the  sect  of  the  Hasaya. 

The  pride  which  thus  rebelled  against  the  power 
of  priests  and  rulers  was  not  however  sufficient  to 
blind  the  great  Rabbi  to  a  recognition  of  his 
actual  defeat.  He  saw  that  the  popular  excite- 
ment had  collapsed  as  quickly  as  it  had  grown  ;  he 
knew  that  suffering  and  death  awaited  the  unsuc- 
cessful revolutionist,  unless  indeed  the  hand  of  God 
should  suddenly  intervene. 

On  the  slope  of  Olivet  he  sat  gazing  sadly  at 
the  unfriendly  city  where  his  enemies  already 
plotted  against  his  life,  and  sadly  answered  his 
pupils  as  they  praised  the  magnificence  of  the 
great  tav/ny  ramparts  which  crowned  the  opposite 
hill. 

It  may  be  that  the  words  which  Rabbi  Simeon 
here  puts  in  the  Master's  mouth  are  not  historical. 
It  may  well  be  thought  that  they  are  coloured 
by  the  remembrance  of  that  great  catastrophe 
which,    still    in    the   future   when    Rabbi    Jcshua 


136  RABBI   JESHUA. 

Spoke,  had  befallen  the  fated  city  ere  his  words 
were  recorded. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  nothing  in  the  imputed 
prediction  which  differs  from  the  ordinary  language 
of  apocalyptic  literature  of  a  period  earlier  than 
that  of  Rabbi  Jeshua's  career.  The  expectation  of 
a  time  of  national  disgrace  and  sorrow ;  the  in- 
fluence of  the  latest  work  in  Jewish  sacred  literature, 
the  so-called  book  of  Daniel  ;  the  belief  that  in 
neglecting  to  recognise  his  claims  as  the  Messiah 
the  Jews  had  only  fulfilled  the  spirit  of  prophecies 
which  crowded  to  his  memory,  would  sufficiently 
account  for  the  gloomy  forebodings  which  Rabbi 
Jeshua  imparted  to  his  followers. 

Meanwhile  a  fortnight  elapsed  and  the  Passover- 
eve  arrived.  The  Hasaya,  who,  if  Josephus  may 
be  credited,  were  excluded  from  the  Temple  court, 
took  no  part  in  the  ritual  of  the  day ;  but  the 
evening  feast  commemorative  of  the  Exodus — the 
lamb,  the  bitter  herbs,  and  the  cup  of  blessing — 
constituted  a  family  festivity  which  was  celebrated 
,  by  Rabbi  Jeshua  and  his  followers  in  common 
with  the  rest  of  the  nation. 
\r  On    that    fatal    evening    the   opportunity   long 

awaited  by  his  enemies  arrived.  The  Jewish 
I  (v/t  *  -V-  worshippers  were  engaged  until  a  late  hour  in  the 
*  Temple  service,  and  after  the  Paschal  Supper  they 


1.1  j  >-  *- 


v 


l;;^.    (M-fUv^^f^^     liAyy^h*-*^  ^  AJu^j'to  -^Y^/J^l".  u  ^p 


THE   DEATH   OF   RABBI  JESHUA.  1 37 

indulged  in  feasting  in  their  houses ;  for  the 
Mishna  expressly  notes  that  although  only  four 
cups  of  wine  were  recognised  in  connection  with 
the  ceremony,  yet  between  the  second  and  the 
third  a  Jew  might  drink  as  many  as  he  wished, 
and  from  other  passages  we  may  gather  that 
excess  was  not  uncommon  among  the  feasters. 
So  long  indeed  was  the  supper  protracted  that 
many  used  to  fall  asleep  before  it  was  ended. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  city  being  thus  occupied 
in  their  houses  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  were  no 
longer  filled  with  the  excited  and  turbulent  throngs 
of  pilgrims  whose  enthusiasm  had  threatened  to 
prove  a  danger  to  the  established  order  of 
sacerdotal  rule.  No  more  fitting  opportunity 
could  be  expected  for  the  apprehension  of  the 
leader  who  might  it  was  feared  yet  accomplish  his 
threat  of  overturning  the  Sadducean  party.  The 
traitor  had  been  found,  the  movements  of  Rabbi 
Jeshua  had  been  watched,  and  the  arrest  was 
quietly  and  quickly  effected. 

In  the  dim  shadows  of  the  dusky  garden  of 
Gethshemen  the  Hasaya  pilgrims  lay  curled  in 
their  rough  mantles,  sleeping  in  the  balmy  night 
air  of  the  Eastern  spring.  The  houses  of  the  city ' 
were  full  to  overflowing,  and  the  love  of  solitude, 
of  freedom,  and  of  the  open  country  natural  to  the 


138  RABBI  JESHUA. 

hermits  of  the  Galilean  deserts,  led  forth  the  great 
Rabbi  and  his  disciples  to  the  cool  retreat  of  the 
olive  groves.  It  was  here  that  their  rest  was 
broken  by  the  lurid  light  of  the  torches,  gleaming 
on  the  bronze  helmets  of  the  Roman  auxiliaries, 
and  on  the  scimetars  of  the  servants  of  Joseph  the 
high  priest.  But  little  resistance  was  offered,  for  it 
was  a  principle  of  the  Hasaya  to  be  obedient  to 
actual  authority,  and  Rabbi  Jeshua  was,  moreover, 
conscious  of  the  irreproachable  orthodoxy  of  all 
his  doctrines.  Thus,  with  the  same  fatalistic 
resignation  which  marks  his  whole  career,  he  sur- 
rendered himself,  with  the  bitter  taunt,  "  Why  was 
I  not  taken  teaching  in  the  Temple  in  the  sight 
and  hearing  of  all  men  ? " 

.  The  Sanhedrim  had  been  lately  expelled  from 
the  "chamber  of  hewn  stone"  by  the  Roman 
governor,  and  the  examination  of  the  refractory 
elder  was  therefore  no  longer  conducted  within  the 
precincts  of  the  Holy  House,  but  in  the  palace  of 
the  high  priest  in  the  city.  It  was  thither  that 
Rabbi  Jeshua  was  conducted,  and  it  was  there  that 
he  was  formally  interrogated  as  to  his  doctrines. 
In  the  cold  dark  hours  of  the  early  spring  dawn 
the  examination  was  commenced,  and  beside  the 
brazier  in  the  outer  hall  the  faithful  Simeon — the 
future  chronicler — sat  among  the  menials  of  the 


THE   DEATH   OF   RABBI   JESIIUA.  1 39 

great  house  and   heard  the  voice  of  the  Temple  ]  t^Opi-^ 
crier  ("  the  cock,"  as  he  was  called)  proclaim  the  j 
dawn,  sadly  recalling  the  sad  presage  of  his  master 
that  before  that  dawn  broke  he  would  be  forsaken 
and  betrayed. 

That  the  Sadducean  party  were  actuated  by 
political  rather  than  religious  motives  in  the  arrest 
and  trial  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  ;  that  he  was  indeed,  like 
Savanarola,  the  victim  of  society,  and  the  van- 
quished opponent  of  an  established  government,  is 
sufficiently  clear  from  the  simple  narrative  of 
Simeon ;  but  it  is  perhaps  less^  certain  whether 
the  final  condemnation  of  the  prisoner  was  due, 
as  in  Savanarola's  case,  to  fierce  hatred  and  un- 
scrupulous falsificatioiv  of  evidence,  or  whether 
it  resulted  from  a  sincere  though  mistaken  and 
fanatical  belief  in  the  heretical  criminality  of  the 
victim. 

The  charge  of  false  doctrines  appears  to  have 
entirely  broken  down,  and  the  trial  turned  finally 
on  the  pretensions  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  to  the  office 
and  dignity  of  Messiah.  The  high  priest  demanded 
categorically  an  answer  from  Rabbi  Jeshua  on  this 
point.  "  Art  thou  Messiah,  the  Son  of  the  Holy " 
One,  blessed  be  He  .-' "  demanded  Joseph.  And  the 
answer  was  equally  definite,  tljough  to  it  Rabbi 
Jeshua  added  a  quotation  from  the  book  of  Daniel, 


-^S/tI 


140  RABBI  JESHUA. 

which  illustrated  his  views  as  to  the  career  of  the 
Son  of  God. 

It  is  astonishing  to  read  that  for  this  answer 
Rabbi  Jeshua  was  condemned  as  a  blasphemer. 
There  was  nothing  blasphemous  in  the  assertion 
that  he  was  Messiah,  nor  was  the  title  "Son  of 
God  "  connected  in  those  days  with  any  claim  of  a 
supernatural  character.  Every  son  of  Israel  was 
a  son  of  God,  and  Messiah,  pre-eminently,  was 
called  by  this  title  in  the  Psalms.  Blaspherny 
among  the  Jews  consisted,  as  has  already  been 
pointed  out,  in  the  utterance  of  the  Divine  Name, 
and  the  Mishna  states  clearly  that  the  blasphemer 
was  not  guilty  until  he  expressed  the  Name, 
"  which,  when  the  judges  heard,  they  were  in- 
structed to  stand  up  and  rend  their  garments, 
f\^^  which  might  never  again  be  sewn." 
\  j       How,  then,  are  we  to  understand  the  fact  that 

I*  \y^  after  the  simple  answer  *'  I  am  "  had  been  given  by 
jj^y^i-jV^i  the  prisoner,  the  high  priest  arose  at  once  and 
-.<?-^^Crr^  1  called  the  Sanhedrim  to  witness,  by  the  rending  of 
^  l~\^:  his  garments,  that  the  Divine  Name  had  been 
,  '^v  ^  (y^  uttered,  the  pronunciation  of  which,  according  to 
its  letters,  condemned  the  prisoner  to  death  ? 
f  ^  1  I  There  is  only  one  explanation  possible,  and  this 

we  find  in  reading  the  chronicle  in  Hebrew :  for 
y  the  word  "  I  am "  was  the  ancient   and   original 


THE   DEATH   OF   RABBI  JESIIUA.  141 

form  of  the  Holy  Name,  by  which  Jehovah  Him- 
self had  made  Himself  known  to  Moses. 

With  hateful  cunning  the  high  priest  placed  on 

tpe  w^rHs  with  which  Rabbi  Jcshua  naturally  an- 

^/  swered   the    direct   question,   perhaps    asked  with 

that  very  object,  a  construction  which  must  have 

appeared  plainly  unjust  to  every  person  present. 

He   declared   that    the    Divine   Name   had  been  f,  i     _,, — 

— -      —  /!/-=,rrx>  t 

spoken,  when  only  an  affirmative   answer  of  the '       \\  ^ 

same  sound  had  been  given  ;  and  on  this  malicious 

and  arbitrary  decision  the  death-doom  of   Rabbi 

Jeshua,  whom  the  assembled  Sanhedrim  had  been 

unable   to   find   guilty  in   any  other  matter,  was 

cruelly  pronounced.      In    the   history  of   priestly 

tyranny  among   the  Jews,  there  was   perhaps  no 

blacker   stain    than   the  sacrifice  of   the  innocent 

victim  whom  the  Sadducecs   thus  ruthlessly  and 

falsely   condemned,   in   order  to    save    their   own 

authority,  and  to  satisfy  their  long-nursed  hatred 

and  thirst  for  vengeance. 

This  decision  summarily  dispensed  with  all  cause 

for  further  inquiry,  and  but  one  bar  remained  to  be 

removed  in  order  that  the  unjust  sentence  might 

be  carried  into  effect — namely,  the  consent  of  the 

Roman  governor,  in  whose  hands  alone  the  power 

of  life  and  death  was  then  vested.     This,  however, 

would   be  easily  obtained.     The  cynical  Roman 


142  RABBI  JESHUA. 

knew  little  of  the  intricacies  of  Hebrew  law,  and 
cared  little  for  the  life  of  any  Jew  who  appeared 
likely  to  raise  a  riot  in  the  city.  Once  convinced 
that  the  liberation  of  this  obscure  prisoner  might 
lead  to  revolution,  the  Procurator  might,  they 
argued,  without  any  difficulty,  be  induced  to 
authorise  the  execution. 

The  Procurator,  however,  had  been  well  advised 
of  the  state  of  the  case,  and  was  aware  that  the 
condemnation  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  had  resulted  from 
sectarian  hatred,  and  was  probably  not  justified  by 
any  actual  crime.  He  knew  also  that  the  populace 
had,  only  a  few  days  before,  received  the  Rabbi 
with  every  expression  of  enthusiastic  delight ;  and 
with  a  sense  of  humanity  and  justice  which  con- 
trasted with  the  blind  and  determined  tyranny  of 
the  Sadducees,  he  placed  the  decision  of  the  case  in 
the  hands  of  the  people. 

Astonishing,  indeed,  must  have  been  the  dis- 
covery which  the  Procurator  then  made  of  the 
sudden  revulsion  of  feeling  which  was  evinced  by 
the  savage  cries  of  the  mob  demanding  the  death 
of  their  former  favourite.  Yet  to  those  who  knew 
the  cause — so  powerful  to  the  Jewish  mind,  so  ill- 
understood  by  the  foreign  ruler — there  is  but  little 
difficulty  in  explaining  the  change. 

The  rumour  of  what  had  occurred  in  the  high 


THE  DEATH   OF   RABLI   JESHUA.  I43 

priest's  palace  had  no  doubt  spread  rapidly,  and'^^-^^^*^  "^ 
had  been  magnified  and  distorted  by  repetition/  y 
and  perhaps  purposely  exaggerated  by  the  priestly 
party  for  their  own  ends.  Rabbi  Jeshua,  it  was 
asserted,  had  blasphemed  wilfully  in  the  presence 
of  the  Sanhedrim.  He  had  perhaps  endeavoured 
to  employ  magic  arts,  and  to  bewitch  the  council 
by  invocation  of  the  Name  through  which  all  in- 
cantations were  rendered  effective.  The  old 
accusations  which  had  been  brought  against  him 
by  the  Pharisees  were  revived,  and  the  populace — 
unlike  the  Galilean  peasantry — was  not  acquainted 
with  the  unfailing  goodness  and  gentleness  of 
character,  with  the  piety  and  love  which  were 
known,  by  his  own  fellow-countrymen  and  followers, 
to  distinguish  the  great  teacher. 

Had  these  events  taken  place  in  Galilee,  the 
peasantry  might  have  risen  to  protect  the  man  who 
loved  them  and  whom  they  almost  worshipped. 
In  Jerusalem,  on  the  other  hand,  he  was  a  stranger 
among  strangers,  a  new  teacher  among  men  long 
accustomed  to  be  led  and  guided  by  the  priestly 
party  whom  he  had  defied.  The  false  accusation 
which  in  his  own  land  would  have  appeared  in- 
credible, was  easily  believed  by  the  mob  of  Jeru- 
salem ;  and  the  plea  on  which  he  was  condemned 
proved  to  be  one  easily  grasped  by  the  multitude, 


144  RABBI  JESHUA. 

and  constituting,  when  vouched  for  by  respected 
authority,  a  full  and  sufficient  reason  for  the  con- 
demnation of  the  Galilean  Messiah. 
/(pJ^^i  The  Roman  Procurator  yielded  at  once  to  the 
ca  V-***^. unexpected  expression  of  the  popular  will.  He 
had  had  sad  experience  of  the  turbulence  of  his 
subjects  in  questions  connected  with  their  religious 
beliefs.  He  had  done  his  best  to  save  the  life  of 
an  innocent  man,  but  it  was  better  that  one  Jew 
should  perish — even  if  innocent — than  that  the 
Roman  governor  should  find  himself  in  conflict 
with  the  whole  nation,  at  a  time  when  his  inability 
to  rule  his  district  was  already  drawing  unwelcome 
attention  upon  him  from  Italy,  and  threatened  to 
result  in  his  final  disgrace  and  the  loss  of  a  lucra- 
tive post.  Thus,  by  the  people  whom  he  had 
loved,  by  the  very  class  for  whom  he  had  toiled 
and  taught,  by  the  peasantry  whom  he  alone  had 
deemed  worthy  of  care  and  'guidance,  the  fate  of 
the  great  Rabbi  was  sealed,  and  the  doom  of  the 
rejected  leader  was  pronounced  without  remorse. 

The  barbarous  cruelty  of  the  recognised  methods 
of  Jewish  execution  was,  no  doubt,  one  among 
many  reasons  which  justified  the  more  civilised 
Romans  in  forbidding  the  infliction  of  the  death 
penalty  by  order  of  the  Sanhedrim.  Four  capital 
punishments    were     recognised    by    Jewish    law, 


THE   DEATH   OF   RABBI  JESHUA.  I45 

namely  stoning,  burning,  beheading,  and  strangling. 
Stoning  was  effected  by  first  throwing  the  criminal 
over  a  precipice  some  ten  feet  in  height,  and  then 
by  casting  a  single  stone  on  his  body.  If  this 
failed  of  its  object,  the  whole  assembled  crowd 
was  allowed  to  complete  the  barbarous  deed,  and 
the  body  of  the  victim  was  afterwards  crucified  until 
sundown. 

By  burning  was  intended,  not  the  death  at  the 
stake,  which  had  originally  been  sanctioned  by 
custom,  but  a  method  of  execution  so  ingeniously 
cruel  as  to  be  worthy  of  the  Chinese  themselves. 
The  criminal  was  strangled  by  two  men  while  a 
lighted  taper  was  thrust  into  his  mouth,  unless, 
indeed,  death  was  caused  immediately  by  suffoca- 
tion. 

By   beheading  was   intended   either    execution 
with   an    axe   or    execution    with   a  sword.     By 
strangulation   was    understood  the   same   punish-' 
mcnt  as  burning,  but  without  the  additional  torture 
of  the  lighted  taper. 

By  such  refined  methods  of  execution,  the  Jews 
were  wont  to  punish  those  accused  of  idolatry, 
witchcraft,  profanation  of  the  sabbath,  or  any 
other  capital  crime  of  which  superstitious  witnesses 
might  accuse  the  victim  before  a  senate  of  fanatical, 
superstitious,  and  sometimes  corrupt  judges. 

L 


146  RABBI  JESHUA. 

As  a  rebellious  elder,  or  as  a  false  peophet,  Rabbi 
Jeshua  might  have  been  put  to  death  by  strangling ; 
as  a  blasphemer  he  should  have  been  stoned, 
according  to  Jewish  law ;  as  an  offender  against 
the  public  peace,  he  was  crucified  by  the  Romans, 
after  the  customary  scourging  which  usually  pre- 
ceded this  mode  of  execution.  Thus,  though 
balked  of  the  cruel  satisfaction  of  despatching 
/  their  victim  by  the  slow  and  uncertain  method  of 

a  characteristic  Oriental  execution,  the  Jews  at 
least  saw  accomplished  the  disgraceful  punishment 
which,  according  to  the  law,  was  specially  accursed, 
and  which  formed  the  ordinary  sequel  of  the 
blasphemer's  death. 

So  rapidly  did  the  trial,  the  condemnation,  and 
the  execution  follow  one  upon  the  other,  that  it 
^t/VwC  was  only  the  third  hour  after  sunrise  when  Rabbi 
Jeshua  was  nailed  to  the  cross  by  the  native 
auxiliaries,  on  whom — and  not  on  the  noble  legion- 
aries of  Italy — is  to  be  laid  the  disgrace  of  having 
insulted  and  illtreated  the  patient  victim  of  Jewish 
fanaticism  and  sectarian  hate.  The  bitter  drink 
which  the  charity  of  the  great  ladies  of  Jerusalem 
provided  for  criminals  was  refused  by  Rabbi 
Jeshua.  The  arrangement  of  signals,  by  which, 
even  at  the  moment  of  execution,  the  trial  might 
be   resumed,  and   punishment  suspended,  on   the 


THE   DEATH   OF   RABBI   JESHUA.  147 

arrival  of  a  fresh  witness,  was  not  used  in  this  case, 
because  the  alleged  offence  had  been  committed  in 
presence  of  the  very  judges  themselves.  There 
was  thus  no  mitigation  of  the  terrors  and  suffering 
of  the  execution,  and  no  respite  given  before  the 
hurried  accomplishment  of  an  unjust  sentence. 

Round  the  rocky  knoll  which  rose  beside  the 
stony  lane  outside  the  city  wall,  the  fierce  mob  of 
the  Passover  pilgrims  was  gathered.  The  curses 
of  the  multitude  greeted  their  idol  of  yesterday  ; 
the  bitter  exclamation  of  despair  which  escaped 
the  dying  Rabbi  was  misinterpreted  into  a  vain 
appeal  to  the  intervention  of  the  mysterious  Elias  ; 
and  like  Savanarola,  Rabbi  Jeshua  was  taunted 
with  his  inability  to  escape  his  doom,  and  because 
no  miraculous  intervention  of  Providence  saved 
him  from  his  fate. 

Along  the  sides  of  the  barren  hillock,  on  the 
battlements  of  the  dark  city  rampart,  the  crowds 
swarmed  and  struggled.  The  white  robes  of  the 
priests  might  be  seen  lining  the  Temple  walls  ;  the 
armour  of  the  Roman  guard  gleamed  from  the 
fortress  of  Antonia.  The  golden  plates  of  the 
great  Temple  glittered  in  the  sunlight ;  the  thin 
veil  of  the  far-off  precipices  of  Moab  stretched 
purple  in  the  distance.  The  blue  sky  flecked  with 
white  clouds,  the  fresh  breeze  from  the  sea  which 


148  RABBI  JESIIUA. 

stirred  the  olive  groves,  the  gay  carpet  of  green 
which  half  hid  the  white  slopes  of  Olivet,  all  spoke 
of  the  new-born  life  of  the  glorious  spring  to  the 
sufferer  whose  days  in  this  world  were  well-nigh 
done. 

The  green  corn  was  high  on  Olivet,  but  the 
harvest  which  Rabbi  Jeshua  had  hoped  to  gather 
had  vanished  away.  The  purple  lilies  on  that  bare 
hill-top,  stamped  under  foot  by  the  crowd,  were 
fit  emblems  no  longer  of  the  glory  of  Solomon, 
but  rather  of  the  downfall  of  that  eagerly  desired 
kingdom  which,  but  a  few  hours  ago,  had  appeared 
to  be  bursting  forth  into  bloom.  The  white  wings 
of  the  stork-pilgrims  wending  their  way  to  the  rich 
plains  of  Kinnereth,  to  the  marshes  of  Jordan,  to  the 
meadows  of  Galilee,  on  which  Rabbi  Jeshua  might 
never  again  hope  to  look,  clove  the  blue  heaven 
above  his  head  ;  but  no  angel  hosts  came  down  to 
deliver  the  rejected  Messiah  ;  no  miraculous  inter- 
position rescued  Rabbi  Jeshua  from  his  doom  ;  for 
to  him  was  allotted,  through  the  terrors  of  martyr- 
dom, an  undying  fame,  destined  to  spread  from 
East  to  West  across  the  world,  and  a  glory  far 
surpassing  the  lesser  honours  of  a  merely  Jewish 
Messiah.  ^  ' 

To  us  who  regard   that  scene  by  the  light  of 
later  events,  the  swelling  hills  outside  the  city 


THE   DEATH   OF   RABBI   JESHUA.  149 

walls  are  seen  bristling  not  merely  with  the  three 
crosses  of  that  fatal  day,  but  with  the  innumerable 
bodies  of  crucified  Jews  whom  the  Roman  legion.- 
aries  of  Titus,  in  grim  jest,  grouped  along  the  line 
of  the  stubborn  ramparts  of  the  beleaguered  city, 
until  there  was  no  longer  room  for  the  crosses,  nor 
crosses  for  the  bodies.  If  there  was  one  crime 
which  more  than  another  brought  vengeance  on 
the  doomed  city  of  Jerusalem,  surely  it  was  this 
one  of  the  unjust  death  of  the  Great  Man  of  the 
nation  ;  and  in  the  crucifixion  of  the  very  popu- 
lace which  had  crucified  its  Messiah,  we  mark  an 
historical  instance  of  grim  poetic  justice  such  as  is 
rarely  afforded  by  the  irony  of  fate. 

There  is  but  little  to  add  to  the  history  of  the 
failure  and  untimely  termination  of  Rabbi  Jeshua's 
short  career. 

His  body,  according  to  the  usual  Jewish  custom, 
should  have  been  cast  into  the  common  sepulchre 
of  criminals  near  the  city  ;  but  from  such  degrada- 
tion it  was  rescued  through  the  influence  of  a  rich  /w7--^ 
Pharisee,  who  buried  it  in  his  own  rock  sepulchre,  l^^'K^ 
among  the  gardens  outside  the  town.  Here  it  was 
reverently  laid  by  the  few  friends  who  had  re- 
mained faithful,  and  the  great  stone  cylinder  was 
rolled  before  the  narrow  entrance  ere  the  eve  of 
the  Sabbath  had  commenced. 


150  RABBI  JESHUA. 

But,  like  Savanarola,  Rabbi  Jeshua  was  fated  to 

leave  not  even  a  relic  of  his  mortality.    The  women 

who  came  to  embalm  his  body  found  the  tomb 

'^         broken  open,  the   body   no   longer   within.      The 

stone  had    been    rolled   away,  and   the  vanishing 

figure  of  a  white-robed  stranger  was  seen,  or  be- 

•    ilieved  to  be  seen,  by  the  terrified  and  dismayed 

jmourners,  who  fled  forthwith  from  the  sepulchre. 

I     Many  were  the  legends  which  arose  in   conse- 

Li  c£*3^-<5U6"ce  of  this  mysterious  sequel  to  the  history  of 

— "       the  great  Rabbi ;  but  the  chronicle  of  Simeon  has 

Saddik  closes  with  the  account  of  the  open  tomb 

and  the  trembling  women  ;  and  of  Rabbi  Jeshua, 

as  of  Moses,  it  may  truly  be  said  that  "no  man 

knoweth  his  sepulchre  unto  this  day." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

LEGENDARY    HISTORY. 

The  desert — Satyrs  and  the  Lilith — Jewish  demonology — Cab- 
balistic Trinity — The  Syrian  pantheon — The  death  of 
Tammuz— Legends  of  Rabbi  Joshua— Legendary  his- 
tories of  the  Jews — The  conceahiient  of  Messiah — Per- 
secution of  the  Hasaya — Phahil — Philo's  description  of 
the  Hasaya — They  become  extinct. 

Few  save  those  who  know  by  experience  can 
conceive  the  oppression  which  is  caused  by  the 
sense  of  soHtude  in  the  desert. 

The  silence  which  is  due  to  the  absence  of  life 
and  of  vegetation  becomes  a  burden  to  the  ear 
accustomed  to  the  bustle  of  cities  and  to  the 
rustling  of  the  wind  in  the  trees.  The  broad 
plains,  the  mighty  precipices,  the  fantastic  peaks 
and  ridges,  present  a  terrible  and  unfriendly  aspect. 
The  cry  of  the  eagle  re-echoes  from  the  hard  rocks, 
and  the  ghostly  herds  of  the  wild  goats  flit  past  in 
the  distance  with  noiseless  swiftness.  The  loneliness 
of  the  wilderness  strikes  even  the  stoutest  heart 


152  RABBI  JESIIUA. 

with  a  feeling  of  danger  and  uncertainty,  and  the 
nerves  are  strung  by  the  dry  atmosphere  to  an 
unnatural  and  painful  tension. 

What  wonder,  then,  that  the  desert  should  have 
been  peopled  from  the  earliest  ages  with  doleful 
creatures,  or  that  terrible  forms  should  still  be 
believed  by  the  Arab  wanderers  to  haunt  the  un- 
trodden wastes. 

Among  the  crumbling  ruins  of  the  wilderness, 
the  Hebrew  prophet  conjures  up  in  imagination  a 
ghostly  band  of  obscene  demons. 

"  And  thorns  shall  come  up  in  her  palaces, 
nettles  and  brambles  in  the  fortresses  thereof,  and 
it  shall  be  an  abode  of  serpents,  and  a  stable  for 
the  ostrich.  The  jackals  of  the  desert  shall  meet 
with  the  wild  beast  of  the  shores,  the  satyr  shall 
cry  to  his  fellow,  and  Lilith  shall  find  rest  there." 
So  does  the  poet  describe  the  desolation  of  the 
southern  deserts ;  and  in  like  manner  of  Babylon 
he  predicts,  "  Their  houses  shall  be  full  of  doleful 
creatures,  the  ostriches  shall  dwell  there,  and  the 
satyrs  shall  dance  there." 

In  these  and  other  passages  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment we  find  expressed  the  universal  superstition 
of  Semitic  races  peopling  the  solitude  with  phan- 
tom forms  of  evil  spirits. 

Even  in  the  constitutions  of  the  Law  of  Moses 


LEGENDARY   HISTORY.  1^3 

some  of  these  superstit[ons  are  incorporated,  Just  as 
Mohammed,  when  preaching  the  second  mono- 
theistic creed  of  the  Semitic  races,  also  incor- 
porated in  his  ritual  some  of  the  observances 
which  belonged  to  the  "  time  of  ignorance  "  before 
Islam. 

Thus  Azazel,  to  whom  the  scapegoat  was  annu- 
ajjy  devoted,  was  the  prince  of  demons,  well  known 
in  Syrian  and  Arab  mythology,  and  his  appropriate 
habitation  was  in  the  wilderness.  The  worship  of 
the  satyrs,  or  "  hairy  demons,"  was  expressly  for- 
bidden by  Moses  ;  but  their  existence  was  not  the 
less  credited,  and  Ashima,  the  later  Asmodeus,  the 
Persian  Ashma  Daevo,  was  a  deity  personified  by  a 
goat,  and  partook  in  all  respects,  as  evidenced  by 
the  story  of  Sara,  daughter  of  Raguel,  as  well  as 
by  the  legend  of  his  attack  on  the  harem  of 
Solomon,  of  the  traditional  nature  of  the  satyr. 

The  Lilith,  or  female  demon,  the  succuba  of  the 
Jews,  the  lamia  who  carried  away  and  devoured 
new-born  infants,  was  a  yet  more  terrible  creation 
of  the  imagination.  She  also  was  a  dweller  in  the 
desert,  and  the  ascetics  who  lived  in  the  wilderness 
were  supposed  to  be  specially  subject  to  her  noc- 
turnal assaults.  Of  the  Lilith  were  thus  born 
evil  demons,  the  Hengch  who  leapt  out  on  unwary 
travellers.     Lilith  was  one  of  the  four  evil  wives  of 


154  RABBI  JESHUA. 

Sammael  the  prince  of  demons,  and  she  appears  as 
the  temptress  of  Adam  not  less  than  the  enemy  of 
his  sons. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  however  pure  the 
Judaism  of  the  time  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  may  have 
been,  the  superstitions  of  earHer  ages  were  still 
firmly  credited  by  the  nation  at  large.  The  com- 
mon beliefs  of  the  peasantry  find  expression  more 
than  once  in  the  chronicle  of  Simeon  has  Saddik, 
and  the  mythology  of  Syria  even  tinged  the  belief 
of  Rabbi  Jeshua's  disciples  within  a  century  of  his 
death. 

More  than  one  mythological  system  was  known 
to  the  Jews,  and  from  each  in  turn  they  derived 
some  portion  of  the  innumerable  superstitions  in 
which  they  believed.  There  were  ancient  Acca- 
dian  legends  which  the  patriarchs  had  brought 
from  beyond  Euphrates ;  there  were  the  astro- 
nomical and  phallic  worships  of  the  Canaanites ; 
and  the  kindred  myths  of  the  Phoenicians  and  the 
Syrians.  There  was  the  great  Hittite  Pantheon, 
and  there  was  the  complex  system  of  Egyptian 
theology.  Against  these  the  Law  testified,  yet 
were  the  gross  and  cruel  rites  of  Ashtoreth  and 
Moloch  never  entirely  abandoned  before  the  Cap- 
tivity ;  and  though  the  influence  of  Egypt  appears 
to  have  been  at  first  very  wefek,  it  is  thought  by 


LEGENDARY  HISTORY.  I55 

some  authors  that  in  the  mystic  Urim  we  have  an 
echo  of  an  Egyptian  method  of  divination. 

But  it  was  during  the  period  of  the  Captivity, 
under  the  Persian  influence,  that  the  mythology  of 
the  Jews  first  became  more  fully  developed.  They 
themselves  in  poetic  language  acknowledged  that 
they  had  learned  the  names  of  the  angels  in 
Babylon,  and  in  Babylon  no  less  their  demonology 
was  created. 

"If  we  could  see  the  evil  demons,"  said  one 
rabbi,  "  no  creature  might  stand  before  them." 
The  crowding  in  the  synagogue  is  because  of  them, 
bruises  on  the  legs  arc  their  doing,  and  the  shabbi- 
ness  of  clothes.  The  claws  of  demons  may  be 
seen  in  the  dust  in  the  morning,  and  the  powdered 
skin  of  a  black  kitten  anointing  the  eyes  will  make 
them  visible. 

That  man  might  be  possessed  by  such  evil 
spirits  was  a  common  belief.  The  maniac  dwelling 
in  the  rock  tombs  of  the  desert  was  considered  to 
be  their  prey  ;  and  if  a  man  be  bitten  by  a  dog  he 
must  drink  only  through  a  brass  tube  for  twelve 
months,  lest  he  see  the  phantom  form  of  Kanti 
Klurus,  the  demon  of  hydrophobia. 

No  less  general  was  the  belief  in  sorcery,  divina- 
tion, witchcraft,  and  necromancy,  in  astrology  an^    ^ 
the  charming  of  serpents,  in  the  power  of  control- 


156  RABBI  JESHUA. 

ling  the  fall  of  rain  which  some  wizards  possessed, 
in  the  foretelling  of  the  future  by  the  fall  of  arrows 
or  by  conjunctions  of  the  planets. 

In  the  mythology  of  the  Assyrians,  and  in  the 
dualism  of  the  Persian  faith,  we  find  the  main 
elements  of  the  later  Jewish  superstition.  The 
solemn  cherubs,  or  "  strong  bulls,"  of  Assyria  with 
their  great  wings  and  grave  bearded  faces  ;  the 
messengers,  or  angels  of  the  chief  divinities,  the 
fiery  disks  with  which  Marduk  was  armed,  find  a 
place  in  Hebrew  poetry  no  less  than  the  snake-like 
Devil  and  the  evil  genii  of  the  Persian  Zoroastrian 
faith. 

From  the  Egyptian  school  the  Hasaya  also 
borrowed  some  of  the  mystic  dogmas  of  the 
Cabbala.  Among  the  Alexandrines  the  whole 
pantheon  of  good  and  evil  spirits  was  marshalled 
under  the  opposing  powers,  Sar-Happanim  the 
Angel  of  the  Presence,  and  Sammael  the  Prince  of 
the  Powers  of  the  Air.  Cabbalists  were  found  at 
a  later  period  among  the  disciples  of  Rabbi  Jeshua, 
and  in  their  works  we  trace  the  foreign  doctrines 
of  Judeo-Alexandrine  philosophy:  the  Light  shining 
in  darkness  which  cannot  comprehend  or  enclose 
it  ;  the  trinity  of  Metatron — the  Angel  of  the 
Presence — Logos,  the  Word  or  Wisdom,  by  whom 
all  things  were  made,  and  Adam  Kadmon,  the  old 


LEGENDARY  HISTORY.  1 57 

Adam,  the  firstborn  son  of  God.  The  deification 
of  their  great  teacher  was  carried  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  his  Cabbalistic  disciples  did  not  scruple 
to  identify  him  with  an  actual  incarnation  of  the 
Logos,  an  idea  so  foreign  to  the  whole  spirit  of 
Rabbi  Jeshua's  original  teaching,  that  we  may- 
even  suppose  him  to  have  been  entirely  ignorant  of 
the  existence  of  teac'.;ers  who  elaborated  such 
mystic  dogmas. 

Unchecked  by  the  authority  of  the  Sanhedrim 
and  the  puritan  zeal  of  the  devout,  the  old  mytho- 
logy of  Iran  flourished  in  the  north  of  Palestine 
and  in  Syria  proper  at  the  time  of  which  we  are 
treating.  Surrounded  by  a  host  of  genii  and 
demons,  the  great  astronomical  deities  were  uni- 
versally worshipped  under  various  names.  Baal 
Ishtar  or  Jupiter,  Ashtoreth  or  Venus  his  consort, 
Hadad,  Rimmon,  Tammuz  or  Adonis,  the  off- 
spring of  the  divine  pair,  formed  the  trinity  of  the 
Father  God,  the  Mother  of  God,  and  the  only  Son, 
who  was  sacrificed  to  the  wrath  of  the  elder 
divinity,  and  again  raised  from  the  dead.  In  thj 
death  of  Tammuz  the  nation  annually  mourned 
the  approach  of  winter  ;  in  the  joyful  exclamation 
of  his  priests,  who,  on  the  25th  of  December,  used 
to  proclaim,  "  Behold  the  virgin  hath  borne  a  son ! " 
they  welcomed  the  return  of  spring.     The  festival 


15^  RABBI  JESHUA. 

of  flowers  was  celebrated — as  it  has  perhaps  always 
been  since  man  and  flowers  were  created — in  the 
joyful  Easter  time.  The  fiery  sacrifice  of  children, 
typical  of  the  destruction  of  Tammuz,  and  the 
licentious  mysteries  of  Ashtoreth  symbolising  the 
fruitfulness  of  the  great  creation,  were  rites  which, 
however  disgusting  and  unnatural  they  may  now 
appear  to  our  more  refined  minds,  are  nevertheless 
to  be  found  celebrated  among  the  peasantry  of 
Christian  lands  even  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

Nor  is  the  ancient  worship  of  Asia  even  now 
extinct,  though  idolatry  has  been  scourged  by 
Islam  since  the  time  of  Rabbi  Jeshua.  In  the 
fourth  century  the  Venus  of  Ascalon  was  still 
worshipped,  and  Marnas,  the  Jupiter  of  Gaza,  had  a 
temple  standing.  In  Bethlehem  the  mourning  of 
Tammuz  was  not  forgotten  ;  in  Accho  the  sacred 
baths  of  Ashtoreth  were  still  frequented.  Sacred 
trees  condemned  by  the  Sanhedrim  were  neverthe- 
less still  consecrated  to  the  Assyrian  Asherah,  the 
goddess  of  fertility  ;  stone  heaps  were  gathered  in 
honour  of  Mercury,  and  the  stone  worship  and 
mountain  worship  of  a  remote  period  were  pre- 
served, with  rites  of  a  licentious  character,  which 
are  still  practised  in  Lebanon. 

The  great  genii  of  Persia,  the  demon  of  the 
whirlwind,  the  satyr  of  the  desert,  the  foul  ghoul 


LEGENDARY   HISTORY.  159 

who  has  superseded  the  beautiful  demon  Lilith, 
the  goat-fiends  of  the  wilderness,  and  the  goblins 
and  phantoms  of  ruins  and  caverns,  are  beings  of 
whose  existence  the  wandering  Bedawi  and  the 
Syrian  peasant  are  still  most  devoutly  convinced  ; 
while  the  belief  in  magic,  in  snake-charming,  in 
possession,  and  in  incarnations  of  supernatural 
powers  are  still  as  vivid  and  real  as  of  old. 

It  is  not  without  an  object  that  the  superstitions 
of  Syria  have  thus  been  briedy  described.      The  a.    '       £ 
chronicle  of  which  we  have  hitherto  followed  the    i  >  '  lUC, 
general  outline  contains  many  marvellous  stories, 
which  are  more  or  less  directly  connected  with  the 
beliefs  of  the  age ;  and   it   is  important  to  keep 
clearly  in  view,  in  treating  this  part  of  the  subject, 
the  fact  that  the  peasant  chronicler  was  not  less 
influenced  by  the  superstitions    of  the  day  than      -'v^- 
were  the   peasants   among  whom    Rabbi   Jeshua 
lived  ;  while  a  correct  appreciation  of  the  origin 
and  meaning  of  the  Phoenician  myths  and  Alexan- 
drine philosophy  renders  it  more  easy  to  compre- 
hend  the  growth  of  that  legendary  history  which     /tac'qj 
gradually  grew  up  in  connection  with  the  true  facts 
of  the  life  of  Rabbi  Jeshua,  which  were  obscured 
and  finally  altogether  lost  beneath  the  overgrowth 
of  a  semi-pagan  mysticism  which  culminated  in  his 
deification. 


l6o  RABBI  JESIIUA. 

We  have   already  seen  that  Rabbi  Simeon  be- 
UAA-^  /  lieved  in  the  desert  demons,  whom  he  represents 
as  assaulting  Rabbi  Jeshua  during  the  period  of 
his  hermit  life  in  the  wilderness.     We  have  already- 
noted  how  the  maniacs  and  nervous  patients  whom 
the  physician  soothed  of^healed  are  represented  by 
the  simple  chronicler  as  possessed  by  devils.     We 
should   therefore   be  prepared  for  the  relation  of 
other  wonders  by   a   writer   so   imbued   with   the 
spirit  of  the  times,  so  credulous  of  the  marvellous, 
so  ignorant  of  any  science  or  art. 
/      s.     It   is  observable,  however,  that  the  number  of 
tM^i-        legends,  and  the  detail  with  which  they  are  cir- 
C  /u>v»  cumstantiated  increases  as  the  date  of  the  various 
e4^„^>w.^  chronicles  recedes  from    the  contemporary  to  the 
'Ci^ .       later  period.     Rabbi  Jeshua's  birth  and  early  years 

are  not  recorded  by  Simeon,  but  more  than  one 

r/-.-//9'nt^iscordant  account  exists,  clothed  in  a  legendary 
garb,  and  surrounded  by  supernatural  phenomena. 
This,  indeed,  is  a  peculiarity  constantly  observ- 
,~y",  able  in  Hebrew  literature.  The  history  of  Jewish 
heroes  remained  for  a  time  unvv^ritten,  and  was 
handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  by 
oral  tradition.  Thus,  when  finally  committed  to 
writing,  it  included  the  legends  with  which  a  marvel- 
loving  people  had  gradually  surrounded  the  his- 
toric  narrative,  and   the  more  remote  the  period 


LEGENDARY   HISTORY.  l6l 

which  elapsed  before  the  chronicle  was  actually 
composed  the  more  stupendous  and  circumstantial 
the  miracles  which  were  therein  incorporated.  As 
an  instance,  we  may  indicate  the  first  and  ^'^^  <M 
second  books  of  the  Maccabees,  representing  the 
contrast  between  an  actual  history  and  a  legendary 
account  of  the  same  facts.  In  the  sober  narrative 
of  the  first  no  mention  of  any  marvellous  occur- 
rences is  found.  In  the  elaborate  but  inaccurate 
romance  written  later,  a  supernatural  machinery 
is  freely  employed,  mysterious  phantoms  appear  in 
every  page,  visions  and  prophetic  dreams  precede 
each  great  event.  It  is  not  often  in  Jewish  litera- 
ture that  we  have  so  favourable  an  opportunity  of 
distinguishing  between  the  solid  facts  of  an  his- 
torical episode  and  the  mythical  overgrowth  which 
has  obscured  and  surrounded  them. 

It  can  scarcely  be   doubted  that  many  of  the       ^ 
marvellous  circumstances  which  are  chronicled  ^y^ij^.^- 
thc   later  biographers  of  Rabbi  Jeshua,  owe  their  eW^ 
origin  to   the   apologetic  character  of  the  various  ' 

essays,  which  aim  at  demonstrating  the  complete 
fulfilment,  in  his  life  and  actions,  of  all  that  could 
have  been  expected  of  the  Jewish  Messiah ;  but  in 
the  case  of  Rabbi  Simeon  this  bias  is  less  remark-  , 

able,  and  wc  have,  as  a  rule,  only  to  take  into 
account  the  very  late  period  of  his  life  at  which    f  oLC*    ^ 

M 


l62  RABBI  JESHUA. 

his  recollections  were  written  down  by  one  of  his 
friends.  If,  during  the  lifetime  of  Rabbi  Jeshua, 
marvellous  stories  had  already  been  circulated  con- 
cerning his  powers  we  may  feel  sure  that  they  did 
not  cease  with  his  death.  The  memory  of  his 
peasant  disciples,  prone  to  exaggeration  and  to  a 
love  of  wonder,  must  have  magnified  many  occur- 
rences which,  had  they  been  described  by  an 
educated  and  impartial  eye-witness,  would  have 
seemed  natural  enough. 
y^i^iC  <  The  marvels  related  in  connection  with  the  life 
)jT-&y^  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  bear  a  close  affinity  to  the  miracles 
^^**'^  which  are  attributed  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  to 
the  great  prophets  of  an  earlier  period,  to  Moses, 
Elijah,  or  Elisha.  Like  the  latter,  he  is  said  to 
have  raised  the  dead  and  fed  the  multitude  with 
miraculous  food.  Like  Moses  or  Elijah,  to  have 
passed  through  the  waters  dryshod.  He  was  be- 
lieved to  possess  the  power  of  controlling  the 
winds  and  storms,  as  Elijah  of  old  was  said  to  have 
brought  rain,  and  as  the  dervish  of  our  own  times 
is  firmly  believed  to  be  capable  of  smiting  with 
drought  an  ungrateful  country. 
V         But  perhaps  the  most  curious  of  these  legends 

^♦^rM'is  that  of  the  vision  which  is  said  to  have  been 
-#— >    I. 

^■^'*^  '     seen  by  the  two  companions  of  Rabbi  Jeshua,  one 
of  whom  was  Simeon  himself,  during  his  retreat 


LEGENDARY  HISTORY.  163 

to  the  heights  of  Hermon,  where  the  Druse  candi- 
dates for  initiation  still  make  periodical  gatherings. 
Elias,  the  forerunner,  and  Moses,  who  also  accord- 
ing to  some  was  to  precede  Messiah,  are  said  to 
have  here  appeared  and  talked  with  Rabbi  Jcshua ; 
but  we  are  left  to  wonder  whether  the  identifi- 
cation of  these  mysterious  visitants  was  due  to 
the  imagination  of  the  disciple,  or  in  what  degree 

the  vision  was  accredited  by  the  Rabbi  himself         p. 

At  a  period  so  remote,  and  with  materials  soT^Ii^* 
scanty,  it  is  impossible  to  judge   what  the  foun-  f  Jlj^7 
dation   on   which   such  legends   were  based   may 
have  been.     We  are  of  course  at  liberty  entirely  ^/^'^v 
to  discredit  them,  or  to  see  in  them  the  interpo-  y^i^  ^ 
lations  of  a  later  copyist ;  but  when  we  consider  u  '^•^-^T 
the    superstitious     reverence    with    which    Rabbi  LjSlI,  " 
Jeshua  was  regarded,  the   universal  belief  in  the 
everyday    occurrence    of    miracles    held    by    the 
ignorant   peasantry   of    Palestine,   the    length    of 
time   which   elapsed    before    the   recollections    of 
Simeon  were  written  down,  the  desire  to  vindicate 
the   Messiahship  of    their   Master  which   was    so 
intensely  felt  by  the   disappointed    Hasaya,  it  is 
perhaps  a  better  view  that  the  wondrous  legends  * 
which  so  rapidly  sprung    up  had   their  origin  in  _ 
deeds  which  were  not  understood  by  the  original '^IJ^il*: 
witnesses,   and   the  true   character  of  which  has ««, 


164  RABBI  JESHUA. 

been  hopelessly  obscured  by  the   repetition    at  a 
later  period  of  their  confused  memories  of  facts. 
//rr-V'        The  circumstances   of  the  death  and  burial  of 
Rabbi  Jeshua  were  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  fabri- 
cation  of  such  legends.      The    Semitic    mind    is 
^^^-^  I  characterised   by   a   tenacity  which    prevents   the 
U^Wl  eradication  of  an  idea,  once  firmly  grasped,  from 
»«\.       I  being  affected  even  by  the  rudest  shock  of  the  most 
abrupt    disillusion.       Thus,   when    the    sorrowing 
friends  who  had  loved  the  great  Rabbi  beheld  his 
shameful  death  they  were  yet  unable  to  grasp  the 
fact  that  their  hopes  were  at  an  end,  and  their 
hero   departed.      They    hoped    daily   and   hourly 
against  hope  for  his  return.     In  despondency  and 
grief,  they  still  remembered   his  predictions  of  a 
great  trouble  which   must   precede  his    triumph. 
They   expected   still   the    supernatural   revolution 
which  should  inaugurate  the  reign  of  Messiah. 

It  was  during  the  first  days  of  this  period  of  ex- 
pectation, that  they  heard  of  the  deserted  tomb  and 
the  mysterious  disappearance  of  the  body  of  Rabbi 
r,  ^^,  Jeshua.      There   is    no   evidence  in  the    chronicle 
l^  r:  tlcof  Simeon   that  any   of  the   immediate  followers 
f.«vC^^^pf  the  Rabbi  ever  again  beheld  him  in  life  or  in 
1^ '       death.     They   believed    indeed   the  story   of    the 
frightened  women  perhaps  more  implicitly  than  we 
are  justified   in  doing,   considering  the   fact  that 


LEGENDARY  HISTORY.  1 65 

cp  hrive  ahyaxs  been,  andjtHl  are,  the 
chief  authors  of  marvellous  tales.     They  were  fully 


Oriental  womcp  hnve  aUyaY^J^"?  ^"^  still  are,  the__ 


prepared  to  suppose  that  a  period  of  concealment 
was  necessary  to  the  career  of  a  Messiah  whose 
triumph  was  yet  to  come,  and  they  read  with  a 
new  meaning  the  chapter  of  Isaiah's  prophecy 
which  they  supposed  to  refer  to  the  execution  of 
their  Master, 

It  was  thus  that  the  Icj^ends  which  are  recorded  J i\  ■■ 
of  the  reappearance  of  Rabbi   Jeshua  after  death  ^"-^«  ^i. 
sprang  up  among  his  simple-minded,  devoted,  and 
grief-stricken    friends  :   legends   of  his    return    to 
life,  of  his  being  caught  up  like  Enoch  or  Elijah 
into  the  heavens,  there  to  be  concealed  for  a  time 
until  his  hour  should  come.     Such  legends,  how-  Ixm^j^ 
ever,  are  stamped  as  unauthentic  by  two  circum-      "^  •  C^ 
stances  :   first,  that   they   are  not  recorded  in   the  ^'^ 

original   text  of  the  chronicle   of  Rabbi  Simeon;  _ 

secondly,  that  the  various  versions  which  exist  in      *" '  CryU^ 
other  works   are  mutually  inconsistent   and  con-  ^  "" 

tradictory. 

The  Hasaya  then  remained  expectant  even  after  ■ ' 
their  Master's  death  of  his  approaching  return  and 
final  triumph.  They  still  continued  even  to  make 
converts  for  a  time,  and  to  inculcate  so  far  as  they 
understood  them  the  doctrines  of  Rabbi  Jeshua. 
Within  thirty  years  of  his  murder,  the  Sanhedrim, 


l66  RABEI  JESHUA. 

usurping  the  right  of  execution  during  an  inter 

regnum  of  procurators,  caused  Jacob,  the  brother  of 

iu*-f  ff^f^Rsihbi  Jeshua,  and  others  of  the  sect  to  be  stoned 

ir\r*^^as  breakers  of  the  Law.    It  was  no  doubt  after  this 

^,Jj  persecution    that    the    Hasaya    retreated   to    the 

district  of  Bethania   beyond   Jordan,  and   to   the 

village    of   Phahil   on    the    brink    of   the   Jordan 

valley. 

J^X^uUJi     It  was  here,  within  the   lifetime  of  Simeon  has 

'  yO,     Saddik,   that   they   remained  in   safety  while   the 

armies  of  Rome  devastated  Judea,  and  when  the 

doomed   city   was    at   length   surrounded    by   the 

girdle  of  the  investing  wall.     The  rumours  of  these 

troubles   reached    the    peaceful    pietists    in    their 

Perean   retreat,  and  in  the  horrors  of  that  siege 

they  saw  not  so  much  the  divine  vengeance  on  the 

murderers  of  their  Master,  as  the  great  period  of 

trouble  including  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and 

the  slaughter  of  Israel ;  the  triumph  of  the  Goim 

predicted  by  the  prophets  which  was   to  precede 

the  immediate   return    of    Rabbi  Jeshua  as    the 

Messiah  triumphant. 

Of  the  character  of  the  sect  in  their  retreat  at 

Phahil  we  may  gather  some  idea  from  the  account 

which  Philo  has  given  of  their  life. 

fi^ t'.i' '     "They  serve  God,"  he  writes,  "with  great  piety, 

lAH^uu^MOt  in  offering  sacrifices  but  in  self-sanctification. 


LEGENDARY   HISTORY.  167 

They  dwell  in  villages,  and  fly  from  cities  because 
of  the  general  immorality  of  their  inhabitants, 
knowing  that  by  contact  therewith  the  soul  is 
stricken  with  incurable  ill,  like  the  sickness  which 
is  due  to  a  poisonous  air. 

"  Some  till  the  earth,  others  follow  peaceful  arts, 
and  each  works  for  himself  and  for  his  neighbour. 
They  gather  neither  silver  nor  gold,  nor  seek  to  get 
riches  by  buying  broad  lands.  Their  care  only  is 
to  gain  the  necessaries  of  life  ;  and  alone  almost  of 
all  men  they  are  without  money  or  goods,  rather 
tlirough  custom  than  because  fortune  has  failed 
them,  and  they  are  deemed  rich  because  to  them 
riches  are  found  in  frugality  and  content.  You 
will  not  find  among  them  any  maker  of  arrows, 
darts,  swords,  or  helmets,  of  breastplates  or 
bucklers,  or  of  any  armour,  nor  any  who  makes 
weapons  of  war,  or  who  follows  any  trade  that  is 
hurtful.  They  know  not  at  all  the  trades  of 
merchants,  of  tavern-keepers,  or  of  carriers,  for 
they  reject  all  that  causes  covetousness.  There 
are  no  slaves  among  them,  all  are  free,  and  work 
one  for  the  other. 

"They  reject  tyranny,  not  only  as  unjust  and 
destructive  of  liberty,  but  even  as  impious,  in 
changing  the  law  of  nature,  which  like  a  mother 
has  nourished  all  men,  and  made  them  equal  as 


1 68  RABBI  JESHUA. 

brethren,  not  in  name  but  in  deed  ;  whereas  crafty 
covetousness  has  produced  strangeness  for  friend- 
ship, and  hate  for  love.  The  logic  of  philosophy- 
being  unneeded  for  virtue,  they  leave  to  the 
hunters  of  words ;  the  physical  sciences  being 
beyond  human  understanding,  to  those  who  pre- 
tend to  rise  to  the  heavens  ;  always  excepting  that 
which  belongs  to  a  belief  in  the  existence  of  God, 
and  the  origin  of  all  things  that  are.  But  morality 
they  study  with  great  zeal,  taking  for  their  guide 
the  national  law,  the  understanding  of  which  they 
say  is  impossible  for  the  human  mind  unaided  by 
divine  inspiration.  They  learn  in  this  law  at  all 
times,  but  especially  on  the  seventh  day,  which 
they  hold  sacred,  and  during  which  they  cease  from 
all  other  things.  Gathered  in  the  holy  houses 
which  they  call  synagogues,  they  form  a  con- 
gregation seated  in  ranks  in  suitable  order,  the 
young  behind  the  aged.  One  takes  the  Holy 
Books  and  reads,  another  from  among  the  more 
experienced  expounds  the  difficult  passages  ;  for 
most  doctrines  among  them,  as  among  the  ancients, 
are  expressed  in  fables." 

Such,  then,  was  the  simple  and  quiet  life  of  these 
primitive  pietists,  awaiting  in  a  condition  of  society 
only  possible  to  an  agricultural  class  the  return  of 
their  Messiah. 


LEGENDARY  HISTORY.  1 69 

The  world  rolled  on,  and  the  Hasaya  were 
forgotten.  The  Alexandrine  philosophers  cla- 
moured and  disputed  on  the  minutiae  of  their 
allegorical  interpretations.  The  mythologists  of 
Asia  Minor  elaborated  their  symbolic  teaching 
of  native  worship,  and  adored  the  trinity  which 
men  had  believed  in  for  thousands  of  years. 
Slowly  and  surely  the  systems  of  pagan  theology 
crumbled  and  were  frittered  away.  Christianity 
was  spread  by  its  zealous  apostles  along  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  even  in  the 
heart  of  imperial  Rome.  The  heresy  ot  the 
Docctes  and  of  the  Manichaeans,  representing 
Christ  as  a  phantom  first  appearing  at  Jordan 
and  never  truly  incarnate ;  and  the  dogmas  of 
fifty  sects  of  Gnostics,  derived  originally  from  the 
Platonic  philosophy  of  Egypt,  flourished  for  two 
hundred  years  in  Syria  and  the  Levant,  side  by 
side  with  the  Jewish  Cabbalism.  Time  passed, 
and  the  edict  of  Constantino  established  the  faith 
throughout  the  empire.  Pagan  persecution  ceased, 
and  the  internecine  strife  of  the  great  heresies 
commenced.  The  dogmas  of  the  Church  were 
fought  out  and  decided  by  councils.  The  inspira- 
tion of  the  New  Testament,  the  canon,  the  rites 
and  government  of  the  Church,  the  nature  of  the 
Trinity,   were    defined,  as    the    fabric    grew    and 


170  RABBI  JESHUA. 

spread  ;  and  during  all  this  time  the  little  Gait* 
lean  sect  hoped  on  in  the  seclusion  of  its  unknown 
home. 

In  the  fourth. century  they  still  claimed  among 
their  number  descendants  of  the  family  of  Rabbi 
Jeshua.  They  were  branded  as  heretics,  not  any 
longer  by  the  Jews,  but  by  the  Greek  orthodox 
Christians  who  then  ruled  Palestine. 

In  the  fierce  onslaught  of  the  early  campaigns 
of  Mohammed  and  of  Omar,  they  were  ap- 
parently overwhelmed  ;  but  for  four  centuries,  at 
least,  the  slowly  dwindling  community  lived 
peacefully  and  obscurely  among  the  rich  plateaux 
and  deep  gorges  of  Perea,  awaiting  the  "  day  of 
the  Lord,"  which  should  come  as  a  thief  in  the 
night. 

Yet  Rabbi  Jeshua  came  not.  For  his  work  in 
this  world  was  done,  and  the  influence  of  his  life 
was  not  the  less  powerful  on  men  because  the  seal 
of  martyrdom  closed  the  record  of  his  mortal 
career. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ENGLAND   AND   RABBI   JESHUA. 

The  search  in  the  city — Sadducees — Pharisees — Philosophers 
— Epicureans — The  poor — The  lost  child. 

Like  a  dream  of  the  past,  the  scenery  of  Palestine 
faded  from  my  view :  the  calm  lake,  with  its 
rugged  cliffs  and  black  lava-fields,  its  oleander 
bushes  and  shingly  beach  ;  the  stony  hills  with 
their  brushwood  of  dark  mastic ;  the  brown  plains, 
the  yellow  sand  dunes  with  graceful  tufts  of  palm  ; 
and  I  found  myself  once  more  in  the  great  grey 
smoky  city,  with  a  lowering  sky,  a  dripping  of  rain, 
a  crowd  of  careworn,  sordidly-dressed,  pale-faced 
men,  hurrying  hither  and  thither,  in  pursuit  of  gold. 
Now  we  know  that  the  religion  of  the  Hebrews 
has  formed  the  basis  of  our  own ;  and  that  the 
student  can  disentangle  the  wonderful  braid,  and 
trace  the  various  skeins  which  have  been  inter- 
twined in  the  formation  of  our  modern  creeds. 
Therefore  it  seemed  to  me  possible  that,  though 


1/2  RABBI  JESHUA. 

distinguished  by  race,  by  religion,  and  by  character, 
I  might  yet  be  able  to  trace  among  the  dwellers  in 
the  great  city  some  echoes  of  the  noble  teaching, 
some  marks  of  influence  of  the  life  and  genius  of 
the  great  Galilean  Rabbi. 

On  this  search,  then,  I  set  out,  and  finding  before 
me  the  open  doors  of  a  large  plain  edifice,  appa- 
rently consecrated  to  some  religious  purpose,  I 
entered,  and  found  indeed  a  congregation  assembled. 
♦Yfe.**. ;  "^^  interior  of  the  building  was  bare  and  ugly, 
ff^^^jfjj!^  the  walls  whitewashed,  the  dingy  windows  filled 
y  ^.j^ll^whh.  small  panes  of  common  glass.  Rows  of  high 
wooden  pews,  of  most  comfortless  shape,  filled  the 
interior,  and  a  huge  wooden  edifice,  in  three  stories, 
rose  like  a  gigantic  tulip  of  dark  oak  colour.  From 
inside  the  tulip-cup  the  preacher  addressed  his 
audience,  while  above  him  hung  suspended  a  heavy 
sounding-board,  looking  like  an  extinguisher  about 
to  fall  on  his  head.  The  device  by  which  this 
great  cupola  was  supported  might  have  been 
thought  typical  of  the  dogmas  which  it  re-echoed, 
for  two  fluted  Corinthian  pillars  rose  behind  the 
preacher  and  supported  one  side  of  the  super- 
structure, while  the  rest,  braced  up  by  some  hidden 
and  most  unmechanical  contrivance,  stood  unsup- 
ported in  the  air,  the  two  other  pillars,  which 
should  have  been  placed  opposite  those  actually 


ENGLAND   AND   RABBI   JESIIUA.  173 

existing,  having  been  omitted  as  interfering  with 
the  preacher's  freedom  of  action. 

My  attention  was  first  directed  to  the  congrega- 
tion. The  majority  were  women,  but  there  was  a 
fair  proportion  of  elderly  men,  and  a  few  mild- 
looking  youths.  The  general  impression  which 
they  produced  was  that  of  sleek  prosperity  and 
success  in  life.  They  were  all  fat,  some  more  so, 
some  less  ;  the  young  ladies  were  plump,  the  elder 
ones  portly.  The  fresh  red  faces  and  sparse  grey 
hairs  of  the  men,  their  shining  bald  heads  and  well- 
filled  cheeks,  were  the  very  emblems  of  prosperous 
respectability  and  good-natured  self-complacency. 
They  were,  moreover,  all  rich.  They  had  ostrich- 
feathers,  flowers,  and  fruits  in  their  bonnets,  velvet 
jackets  arid  silk  skirts,  great  gold  watch-chains, 
glossy  hats  and  good  broadcloth  frock-coats,  well 
starched  linen,  and  a  profusion  of  rings,  chains, 
brooches,  and  jewels. 

For  a  moment  the  vision  of  an  Eastern  plain,  of 
a  swarthy  and  ragged  crowd,  with  eager,  unhappy 
faces,  surrounding  a  white-robed  teacher,  floated 
before  my  eyes,  but  passed  away  like  a  dream  ;  and 
in  the  grey,  cold,  rainy  city  where  I  actually  stood, 
the  reality  of  the  white  edifice,  warmed  by  its  com- 
fortable but  unsightly  stove-pipes,  returned  co  my 
outer  senses. 


1/4  RABBI  JESHUA. 

At  the  back  of  the  building  was  an  ordinary 
table,  with  a  spotless  cloth,  and  on  it  a  cup  hidden 
by  a  snowy  napkin.  This  appeared  to  be  part  of 
the  ritual  furniture  of  the  building,  but  its  meaning 
was  not  clearly  discoverable. 

In  the  oak  tulip  the  comfortable-looking  preacher 
stood,  in  a  black  gown  with  swelling  sleeves,  read- 
ing soberly  from  a  written  address,  which  appeared 
to  be  of  considerable  length. 

I  listened  with  attention  to  his  teaching.     He 

explained  that  in  consequence  of  the  sin  of*  the 

original  man  the  whole  human  race  had  become 

depraved,  and  that   men  were  born  with  a  curse 

upon  them  which  condemned  them  to  eternal  tor- 

/        ment.      Not  through  their  own  sin,  not   through 

;,,,.  :,    any    crime    individually    committed,   but    merely 

y  •'*  ^  through    the   fact   that   they  were   born   into   the 

N       ^  world,  and  that  their  ancestor  sixty  centuries  ago 

had   sinned   in   the   far-off  East.      There  was  no 

/       hope,  no  help  for  them,  however  virtuous  their  lives 

/  ^    might  be  ;  for,  like  the  Goim  of  the  Jewish  creed, 

,'  un  /v^ftjrehenna  was  their  fate. 

He  told,  moreover,  of  a  youthful  God  sacrificed 
by  the^  wrath  of  an  Elder  Divinity,  and  afterwards 
brought  back  to  life  and  immortality.  A  deity 
beneficent  to  and  loving  mankind,  and  one  through 
whose  favour — not  by  any  deed  of  their  own,  ex- 


ENGLAND   AND   RABBI   JESIIUA.  I75 

cept  that  of  worshipping  himself  exclusively — 
men  might  escape  their  doom,  and  be  received  into 
an  ethereal  paradise  of  clouds  and  angels.  The 
preacher  concluded  by  recommending  the  ritual  of 
his  creed  to  the  congregation,  and  by  collecting 
money  for  the  conversion  of  the  Madagascans  to 
this  gloomy  and  paradoxical  dogma. 

There  was  evidently  no  trace  of  the  influence  of 
Rabbi  Jeshua  in  such  teaching.  The  old  myth  of 
the  death  of  Tammuz  might  perhaps  be  recognised, 
and  the  ancient  Accadian  legends  were  preserved  ; 
but  where,  in  that  well-filled  building,  were  the 
poor  and  ignorant  ?  The  tremendous  dogmas 
were  placidly  received  by  the  respectable  audience, 
and  many  of  the  elder  members  slumbered  com- 
fortably while  their  pastor  fulminated  or  exhorted 
above  their  heads.  Could  it  be  that  either  he  who 
taught,  or  those  who  heard,  actually  believed  the 
strange  doctrines  which  custom  had  rendered  so 
familiar  to  them.  The  sense  of  unreality  pervaded 
the  whole  ceremony ;  and  the  scene  resembled 
rather  the  unmeaning  repetition  of  some  ancient 
rite,  the  true  intention  of  which  had  long  been  for- 
gotten, than  the  living  worship  of  an  earnest  creed. 

But  not  far  away  from  this  edifice  was  a  beautiful 
Gothic  building  of  elaborate  style.  Within  its 
shady  cloisters,  where  the    ribbed    groins  of   the 


1/6  RABBI  JESHUA. 

vaulted  roof  sprang  from  the  lofty  clusters  of  well- 
carved  pillar  shafts,  where  beams  of  "  dim  religious 
light "  were  cast  across  the  cool  grey  stones  from 
quaintly  figured  windows  of  stained  glass,  a  service 
of  song  was  being  celebrated,  and  a  thick  throng 
of  worshippers  was  gathered.  On  the  east  a 
gorgeous  altar  flanked  by  tapers,  surmounted  with 
a  painted  screen,  glittering  with  gold,  with  missals, 
with  sacred  chalice  and  plate,  was  the  central 
object  of  attraction  before  which  long  lines  of 
white-robed  choristers  stood  in  order  in  carved 
oak  stalls. 

I  looked  at  the  worshippers,  and  perceived  a  yet 
more  scanty  sprinkling  of  the  male  sex.  There 
were  graceful  and  well-dressed  women,  pale 
devotees  in  sombre  garb,  here  and  there  a  sister 
of  charity,  or  a  thin  austere  ascetic,  absorbed  in 
mystic  devotion.  But  where  were  the  poor  and 
the  ignorant.?  The  brass  plates  went  round,  and  I 
perceived  that  whereas  the  previous  congregation 
had  restricted  its  respectable  donations  to  a  silver 
threepence  or  fourpence,  these  worshippers  placed 
all  manner  of  contributions  in  the  common  offertory. 
There  were  pence  and  halfpence,  sovereigns  and 
notes,  rings  and  chains  in  the  plates,  and  I  listened 
eagerly  to  hear  the  good  object  which  had  so 
opened  their  generous  hearts. 


ENGLAND  AND  RABBI  JESHUA.  177 

An  elegant  young  priest  advanced  to  the  choir 
steps,  and  announced, 

"To-morrow  being  the  festival  of  St.  Architri- 
clinius,  the  martyr  is  appointed  to  be  observed. 
The  offertory  is  for  the  church  flower  decorations, 
and  for  the  fund  in  aid  of  providing  cotta-surplices 
for  the  choir," 

Thus  I  was  left  to  balance  the  claims  of  the 
Madagascan  natives  against  the  cottas  of  the  hired 
choir-boys. 

There  was,  however,  still  a  chance  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  aesthetic  sect  might  contain  some 
echo  of  the  ideas  of  Rabbi  Jeshua  ;  and  the  dis- 
course, which  was  delivered  extempore  by  the 
youthful  preacher,  might  contain  some  indications 
of  the  connection. 

He  commenced  with  an  exposition  of  the  infinite 
light  which  shone  in  the  darkness  of  the  universe. 
He  explained  the  incarnation  of  the  Logos,  and 
expounded  the  mystic  triad  of  which  that  Logos 
formed  the  active  principle.  He  went  on  to  exhort 
his  hearers  to  return  to  the  original  orthodoxy  of 
the  sect  as  it  existed  in  the  fifth  century,  and 
extolled  the  learning  and  piety  of  the  Byzantine 
fathers  of  Egypt,  Syria,  and  Italy. 

Now,  such  dogma  was  not  unfamiliar  to  me.  In 
the  writings  of  Philo,  in  the  Cabbalistic  "  Book  of 

N 


1/8  RABBI  JESHUA. 

Splendour,"  I  had  read  the  same  mystic  philosophy 
as  elaborated  among  Alexandrine  Jews  ;  but  the 
new  and  surprising  feature  was  the  importance 
which  the  preacher  attached  to  the  opinions  held 
by  monks  and  hermits  (in  one  of  the  darkest  ages 
of  human  ignorance,  human  wickedness,  and 
human  stupidity),  concerning  events  which  had 
occurred,  and  doctrines  originally  developed,  more 
than  four  hundred  years  earlier.  It  was  as  though 
we  should  be  directed  to  search  the  early  Saxon 
chronicles,  as  the  best  and  most  authentic  sources 
whence  to  gather  a  true  idea  of  the  history,  the 
religion,  and  the  manners  of  Rome  in  her  Augus- 
tan age. 

Evidently,  in  a  creed  which  thus  directed  the 
thoughts  and  intellects  of  the  faithful  to  an  age  of 
inferior  civilisation  and  less  advanced  power  of 
thought,  there  must  be  some  deep-lying  fallacy  of 
doctrine  which  would  unfit  the  beliefs  inculcated 
for  becoming  a  living  and  growing  faith  fitted  for 
the  wants  and  the  aspirations  of  an  eager  and 
capricious  society,  in  an  age  of  constant  change — 
however  suited  to  the  tastes  of  the  time  the 
aesthetic  aspect  of  the  ritual  might  appear. 

But  there  were  other  gatherings  in  the  great 
city  much  frequented,  and  also  claiming  exclusive 
authority  in  the  exposition  of  things  spiritual.     In 


ENGLAND   AND   RABBI  JESHUA.  1/9 

a  lecture-room,  filled  by  crowds  of  intelligent- 
looking  and  thoughtful  men,  I  found  an  eloquent 
and  powerful  teacher  expounding  the  great  secrets 
of  nature.  He  explained  how,  from  the  infinite 
mass  of  formless  jelly  which  floated  in  the  dark- 
ness of  the  ocean,  little  fragments  had  become 
detached ;  how  they  formed  new  desires  of  their 
own,  and  proceeded  slowly  but  surely  to  adapt 
their  bodies  to  their  fancies,  and  to  follow  the 
dictates  of  a  gelatinous  imagination.  He  taught 
how  the  flowers,  which  desired  to  attract  the  atten- 
tion of  certain  species  of  insects,  dressed  them- 
selves in  gay  colours  for  that  purpose,  choosing  the 
hues  most  attractive  to  the  particular  species  they 
preferred.  He  stated  how  he  had  hunted  through 
the  whole  body  for  the  presence  of  any  non- 
material  element  of  life,  and  not  having  found  any, 
had  been  enabled  to  draw  the  safe  conclusion  that 
none  such  existed.  That  life  was  a  function  of 
certain  organisms,  and  that  by  the  exertion  of 
will-force  from  an  almost  infinite  period  down- 
wards, the  thinking  and  moral  qualities  of  man- 
kind had  been  evolved  from  the  blind  desires  of 
the  primaeval  jelly,  and  his  complex  organism  with 
its  bones,  nerves,  arteries,  and  heart,  from  the  simple 
protoplasm  of  the  bathybius. 

A  backward  disciple  here  ventured  to  inquire  of 


l8o  RABBI  JESHUA: 

the  professor  what  he  considered  to  be  the  cause 
of  the  very  evident  difference  between  a  living 
being  and  a  dead  body.  The  lecturer  answered 
with  good-natured  contempt  that  it  was  clear  that 
the  conversion  of  the  vital  force,  which  was  the 
function,  as  he  had  already  explained,  of  active 
existence,  into  some  other  mode  of  motion,  would 
result  in  the  disintegration  of  the  material  of  the 
organism  into  the  original  protoplasm,  or  into  some 
newly  combined  products  of  inorganic  existence. 

This  answer  was  so  remarkably  convincing  that 
no  more  questions  were  asked  ;  but  the  doubt  yet 
remained  unsolved  in  my  mind  whether  it  would 
have  been  possible  for  the  canvases  on  which  the 
great  Italian  masters  limned  their  immortal 
creations,  to  have  evolved,  by  any  amount  of  will- 
force,  after  any  lapse  of  time,  pictures  as  full  of 
passion,  of  poetry,  of  genius,  as  those  which  we 
have  received  from  the  hands  of  the  great  creators 
of  the  art  of  painting.  In  like  manner,  I  could 
not  but  doubt  whether  the  dogmatic  professor 
could  have  ever  appreciated  the  infinite  beauty, 
pathos,  and  dilettantism,  if  one  may  be  allowed 
the  expression,  which  is  manifested  in  the  works  of 
nature.  Nay,  even  the  humour  which  seems  to 
rejoice  in  the  production  of  quaint  forms,  the  irony 
which  has  caricatured  mankind  in  the  monkey,  the 


ENGLAND  AND   RABBI  JESHUA.  l8l 

enjoyment  of  power  and  playful  fancy  which  we 
observe  in  some  of  those  strange  beings  which  the 
old  pagans  rightly  named  the  "  freaks  of  nature." 

Is  it  by  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  or  by  sexual 
selection,  that  these  recreations  of  the  creative 
power  were  formed  ?  Surely  to  the  artist,  or  the 
poet  at  least,  if  not  to  the  man  of  science,  it  will 
seem  ever  less  difficult  to  believe  in  a  Creator  who 
"  rejoices  in  his  works,"  than  in  this  gloomy  dogma 
of  automatic  organisms. 

Suppose  for  a  moment  that  our  professor  had 
been  engaged  in  anatomising  a  steam-engine.  He 
finds  a  mechanism  of  iron  wheels,  pistons,  and 
cranks,  lubricated  with  oil,  and  appropriately  de- 
signed for  harmonious  action.  He  decides  that  by 
a  constant  inclination  to  move  along  steel  rails 
the  primaeval  lump  of  iron  evolved  its  wheels,  its 
cranks,  its  valves  ;  but  by  his  anatomical  dissection 
he  has  rendered  it  impossible  that  the  steam-pulse 
should  ever  again  throb  in  the  great  arteries  ; 
and  he  has  never  seen — or  seeing,  never  under- 
stood— the  source  of  life  which  the  Chief  Engineer 
has  created  in  building  up  the  coal  in  the  furnace, 
and  in  fanning  the  living  spark  of  flame,  without 
which  the  great  frame  of  iron  and  steel  must 
remain  incapable  of  self-animation — a  body  with- 
a  soul. 


1 82  RABBI  JESHUA. 

Among  this  hard-headed  and  narrow-hearted 
gathering  there  was  no  hope  then  of  finding  any 
trace  of  the  doctrines  of  Rabbi  Jeshua.  I  could 
only  marvel  that  in  an  age  of  free  thought  and  of 
progress  the  biologist  or  the  chemist  should  be 
allowed  to  dogmatise  not  less  than  the  priest  or 
the  mystic  ;  and  that  the  illogical  argument  that 
because  the  immaterial  was  not  material,  therefore 
it  existed  not,  should  lead  captive  so  many  clever 
thinkers  of  our  day.  That  flying  from  the  tra- 
ditional teaching  of  their  forefathers  they  should 
fall  a  prey  to  the  fancies  of  a  naturalist  who 
evolved  from  the  chance  production  by  sea-water 
and  alcohol  of  a  gelatinous  precipitate  (which  he 
mistook  for  an  organism)  the  tremendous  theory  of 
an  enormous  jelly  floating  at  an  unknown  depth  in 
the  sunless  ocean. 

Once  more  I  entered  a  building  where  crowds 
were  gathered,  and  this  time  it  was  a  picture- 
gallery.  Here,  perhaps,  among  those  of  gentler 
and  more  generous  natures  I  might  hope  to  find 
disciples  of  the  great  poet  of  the  East.  But,  alas  ! 
I  was  again  disappointed.  Ghastly  enthusiasts 
with  tangled  locks  and  gaunt  features,  pale 
damsels  with  projecting  chins  limply  bending 
under  the  burden  of  poetic  melancholy,  abounded 
everywhere.    Clinging  drapery,  quaint  headdresses, 


ENGLAND  AND   RABBI  JESHUA.  1 83 

sickly  colouring  and  ungainly  gestures  charac- 
terised the  assembly.  They  languished  before  pale, 
meagre  pictures,  not  less  morbid  in  fancy  or  less 
unattractive  in  design  than  the  admirers  them- 
selves might  be  considered.  They  fainted  at  the 
sight  of  bright  colouring,  and  shrank  before  the 
rude  strength  of  healthful  life.  Their  minds  were 
tuned  to  a  minor  key,  and  they  appeared  to  com- 
bine the  enjoyment  of  actual  ease  and  comfort 
with  a  delicious  despondency  concerning  imagin- 
ary sorrows. 

And  this  is  what  our  fellow-countrymen  have 
become  in  their  attempt  to  cultivate  their  aesthetic 
faculties  !  The  fresh  glories  of  the  open  field,  the 
sunlight,  the  storm,  the  ruddy  hues  of  autumn,  the 
splendour  of  the  sunset,  have  become  too  rude  and 
vulgar  for  the  refined  taste  which  can  find  pleasure 
only  in  the  decay  of  the  graveyard,  and  poetry 
only  in  the  sorrows  of  sin. 

I  had,  moreover,  this  difficulty  to  solve.  What 
became  of  these  sensitive  beings  if  they  chanced  to 
suffer  from  indigestion  ?  or  if  their  boys  fought 
and  damaged  themselves  .-'  Would  the  contempla- 
tion of  a  gruesome  picture  console  them  when  a 
wife  or  child  w^as  laid  low  with  fever }  or  would 
an  aesthetic  wall-paper  atone  for  the  loss  of  a 
friend  ? 


1 84  RABBI  JESHUA. 

Therefore,  while  the  languid  contempt  of  these 
eclectic  self-admirers  was  scarcely  concealed  as  I 
walked  past  in  the  rough  dress  of  an  ordinary- 
mortal,  I  wondered  how  they  could  suppose  their 
philosophy  of  sensuous  enjoyment  to  be  in  truth  a 
gospel  fitted  for  the  needs  of  the  poor,  the  strug- 
gling, and  the  stricken. 

Why  !  all  these  creeds,  whether  it  be  the  respec- 
table religion  of  the  prosperous,  the  aesthetic  devo- 
tion of  the  pious,  the  narrow  materialism  of  the 
intellectual,  or  the  selfish  dilettantism  of  the  epi- 
curean, are  but  the  religions  of  the  rich  and  idle, 
of  the  men  with  good  coats  oa  their  backs,  good 
food  to  eat,  and  a  balance  at  their  bankers'.  These 
are  but  new  forms  of  the  old  selfish  doctrines  of 
the  rich  men  of  Rabbi  Jeshua's  age.  The  comfort- 
aHe  Sadducees,  rolling  in  their  carriages,  still 
bless  themselves  for  the  rewards  of  righteousness 
which  they  enjoy.  The  Pharisee  still  thanks  God 
that  he  is  not  as  other  men,  and  still  points  to  the 
tradition  of  former  ages  as  preserving  the  epitome 
of  truth.  The  Philosopher  intent  on  the  elucida- 
tion of  the  unknowable,  the  Epicurean  absorbed  in 
his  own  enjoyment,  are  not  new  types  of  mankind 
peculiar  to  our  own  age. 

What  comfort  to  the  poor  and  unhappy  is  to  be 
found  in  the  dogma  of  eternal  punishment  or  in 


ENGLAND   AND   RABBI   JESHUA.  1 85 

the  mystery  of  the  incarnate  Logos  ?  What  con- 
solation to  the  friendless  to  know  that  he  is  de- 
scended from  an  ape,  or  developed  from  a  jelly? 
What  satisfaction  to  the  hungry  and  thirsty  to 
contemplate  delicate  hues,  or  listen  to  the  mournful 
ditties  of  a  world-weary  bard  ?  Where,  among  all 
these  fancies  and  theories  may  we  find  the  religio, 
the  "  binding  together"  of  man  to  his  brother  man, 
the  comfort  for  the  miserable,  the  help  for  the 
weak,  the  hope  for  the  erring,  the  love  for  the 
lonely,  which  shall  form  the  faith  of  the  people 
and  the  consolation  of  the  poor  ? 

Then  I  became  aware  that  there  existed  in  the 
great  city  a  division  between  the  rich  and  poor  as 
deeply  marked  and  as  broad  as  that  of  the  times 
of  Rabbi  Jeshua  himself.  I  found  that  they  dwelt 
in  a  quarter  of  their  own,  a  dingy  metropolis  of 
labour  and  want,  far  east  of  the  broad  roads  and 
lofty  mansions  among  which  I  had  wandered. 
That  here,  closely  crowded  in  squalid  lanes  and 
fever-stricken  dens,  they  lived  apart,  unknown  to 
and  uncared  for  by  the  rich  multitude  of  the 
sectarians  ;  that  they  knew  little  or  nothing  of 
the  manners,  thoughts,  or  deeds  of  their  more 
fortunate  brethren  ;  that  they  were  left  an  easy 
prey  to  the  ignorant  demagogue  or  the  self-seeking 
agitator ;  that  their  ignorance  was  abused  by  men 


1 86  RABBI  JESHUA. 

of  a  better  education  for  selfish  purposes,  and  that 
the  religion  of  the  mass  was  a  creed  of  hatred  and 
despair. 

Here  and  there  a  good  man  wrought  and 
struggled  among  them  by  himself,  winning  their 
love  and  confidence,  striving  to  aid  their  poverty 
and  school  their  ignorance.  Round  such  men  they 
gathered,  as  the  peasants  of  Galilee  round  Rabbi 
Jeshua  of  old ;  yet  was  it  rather  in  despite  of  the 
dogmas  which  he  inculcated  than  because  of  the 
truths  which  he  taught  that  each  solitary  apostle 
of  the  poor  won  gratitude  and  obedience  from  his 
flock. 

Have  we  then  indeed  as  a  people  advanced  very 
far  in  such  matters  beyond  the  races  of  the  ancient 
world.?  True,  we  no  longer  burn  witches  at  the 
stake,  no  longer  believe  in  goblins,  fairies,  or  ghosts, 
nay  even  begin  to  doubt  the  utility  of  truth,  honour, 
and  virtue,  and  deny  the  existence  of  God  Himself. 
Science  has  grown  up  amongst  us  teaching  glorious 
truths  of  the  methods  and  economy  of  nature  ;  but 
in  studying  the  material  we  have  lost  sight  of  the 
existence  of  that  by  which  it  is  animated,  and  in 
cultivating  the  intellect  we  have  starved  the  heart. 

It  was  for  this  reason  therefore  that  the  churches 
were  full  of  women  and  children,  and  that  the 
flower  of  the  race  was  found  sitting  at  the  feet  of 


ENGLAND  AND  RABBI  JESHUA.  187 

the  scientific  dogmatist.  Religion  is  a  passion, 
not  a  proposition  of  the  logician — a  need  of  the 
heart,  not  a  creation  of  the  brain.  Surely  those 
who  anticipate  a  future  when  art  and  poetry, 
imagination  and  faith,  shall  be  buried  in  a  common 
sepulchre,  and  when  pure  intellect  shall  reign 
supreme,  have  forgotten  the  healthful  and  merciful 
facts  that  men  are  born  as  little  children,  and  are 
nursed  by  loving  mothers. 

It  was  a  little  child  whom  Rabbi  Jeshua  would 
have  made  the  religious  teacher  of  his  followers ; 
and  so  long  as  man  is  so  born,  so  nursed,  the  need 
for  a  common  religion  must  exist  among  men. 
But  it  is  in  the  wants  of  the  poor,  in  the  yearnings 
of  the  unhappy,  that  the  faith  of  a  nation  must  be 
found,  not  in  the  philosophic  dreams  of  the  rich  or 
in  the  luxurious  fancies  of  the  idle. 

Thus,  as  I  went  on  my  way  disappointed  and 
unsuccessful,  I  found  in  the  streets  a  crowd  sur- 
rounding a  child  that  had  lost  its  father.  The 
black-coated  divine  from  the  oaken  pulpit  passed 
by  and  gave  a  word  of  advice.  "  This  all  comes," 
he  said,  "  of  your  sinfulness  and  perverseness,  your 
disobedience  and  ungratefulness.  You  cannot  now 
find  your  home,  and  the  beadle  must  take  you  to 
the  poorhouse." 

The  priest  came  by  and  offered  his  help,  "  Flee," 


1 88  RABBI  JESHUA. 

he  ?aid,  "to  the  arms  of  the  Church,  repent  with 
fasting  and  tears,  submit  yourself  to  the  direction 
of  a  ghostly  father,  and  turn  from  the  vanities  of 
the  world,  and  you  will  be  far  happier  than  if  you 
found  your  parents." 

The  professor  came  up,  and  spoke  in  a  harsh 
contemptuous  voice,  "Your  father,"  he  said,  "was 
in  all  probability  an  ape.  His  vital  force  has  been 
translated  into  another  mode  of  motion,  and  you 
will  never  see  him  again.  You  are  probably  now 
suffering  from  the  laws  which  regulate  the  activity 
of  your  organism  and  impel  it  to  seek  the  renova- 
tion of  fuel  supplied  by  food.  I  judge  by  the 
electric  discharge  from  your  eyes  that  some  such 
internal  commotion  is  developing,  and  I  advise  you 
to  go  and  purchase  provisions  for  the  regulation  of 
your  internal  mechanism." 

"  How  sweet  and  significant  is  your  desolation," 
said  the  aesthetic  ;  "  how  supremely  delicious  is  the 
agony  of  such  a  loneliness.  But  yet  withal  how 
weary  must  he  ever  be  who  is  compelled  to  listen 
to  the  griefs  of  others  deafening  the  music  of  his 
own  intense  content.  For  this,  sweet  child,  I  leave 
thee  to  the  luxury  of  woe,  lest  through  too  much 
sympathy  I  lose  mine  own  delight." 

By  which  of  these  addresses  think  you  the  child 
was  best  consoled  and  encouraged  ?     Where  was 


ENGLAND   AND   RABBI  JESHUA.  1 89 

Rabbi  Jeshua  now  who  had  declared  once  that  of 
such  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  ? 

Thus  to  a  woman  at  length  among  all  the 
philosophers  it  was  left  to  offer  the  true  comfort, 
which  lay  in  the  simple  suggestion  to  seek  and  ask 
for  the  father  who  was  lost,  and  to  take  back  the 
wanderer  to  his  arms. 


THE   END. 


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